All the Lights
by itsjustv
Summary: Welcome to Beacon Hills. Home of fighting werewolves and other supernatural creatures alike, and Dani has it mastered. Then, this blue eyed beautiful idiot comes along and gets bitten by her true alpha werewolf brother. Kitsunes and Banshees? No problem. Dealing with the opposite sex? Not a chance in hell. This is a Liam/OC fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Good Mourning**

 _I can see her struggling to breathe. Her breaths are coming in shallow gasps as opposed to their usual silent in an outs. Her dark curls form a perfect frame around her face. She lays in Scott's arms; even on deaths door she still looks_ _beautiful._

 _"It doesn't hurt." I can barely hear her and I'm standing so close. Her voice is barely above a whisper. She's heaving now, struggling. I can see Scott straining to hold back his sobs as he continues to try and ease pain that isn't there. She's too far gone. There's nothing he can do. There's nothing any of us can do._

 _I am not allowed to enjoy her last moments. None of us are. Everything starts to happen all at once, like pressing replay and fast forward at the same time. We aren't given any time to think. The entire world starts to fade out with her, and it's like my senses are no longer working._

 _It all happened so fast. Too fast._

 _There's so much noise, and confusion. Someone keeps asking questions. "Do you know what they looked like?" a voice answers no. Was it mine? I can't be sure._

 _I can still see her face, her lips tainted with her own blood. There's a sob stuck in my throat but it lacks the courage to leave me._

 _It all happened so fast. Too fast._

* * *

The sound of clatter downstairs wakes me and I jolt out of bed. I can hear faint conversation downstairs. Scott's voice gets my attention, and I glance at the digital clock on my night stand. It's four o'clock in the morning and we have school in just a couple of hours. Leave it to my brother to come home from "camping" at this hour when it's a school night. _Typical._ I roll my eyes at his antics and don't even notice that's he's standing by my door until he speaks.

"Isn't it a little early to be getting ready for school, Dani?" I scoff at his comment and shake my head. "Well you know what they say. Early bird gets the worm, big bother." he chuckles to himself and walks over to me. Scott opens his mouth to say something but seems to decide against. He stays quiet for a moment and finally speaks.

"We found Derek. Sort of, anyways."

At the sound of his name my head lifts from its position on the pillow behind me. "What does 'sort of' mean? You either found him or you didn't, Scott. Which is it?" Questions start spilling past my lips before I can stop them and in the dead of night I notice how loud I've become.

Scott motions for me to keep my voice down as our father is sleeping downstairs. My breathing relaxes a bit and I let him explain the situation to me. Derek? Except he's fifteen for some reason.

"Please just tell me he's okay. That's all I want to know." I plead as my hands ball up the blanket I was using to cover myself moments ago. Scott gives me a quick nod and I can finally feel the rest of my body relax. Derek might have been a huge sour wolf – pun intended – but over the past couple of months he'd been our biggest ally. In some ways he was like another older brother, much like Stiles and my actual brother Scott. Except he was more protective of me than anyone else. I always suspected it was because I was human, but everyone always tried to convince me that it was more than that.

After I found out he'd gone missing I didn't know what to do. He'd gone through so much in such a short amount of time. I couldn't imagine anything else going wrong for him. But he had disappeared and the entire pack, excluding myself, was off south of the border.

I wasn't at all surprised to find out that I wasn't allowed to go, but that didn't stop me from complaining about it. At this point I was more or less used to getting left behind at home. It was never "safe" and there was no way of telling what could "happen" to me. But it still stung that I couldn't go and help find someone who means a lot to me.

After the heads up on Derek's "condition" and an offhand mention of our "family dinner" tomorrow night, Scott excuses himself and goes to bed. But I lay awake thinking about all the things I have just heard. Beacon Hills is now a beacon for supernatural creatures. Especially after the triple sacrifice Scott, Stiles and Allison made.

Allison. I couldn't even say her name without feeling an avalanche of sadness overcome me. It hadn't been that long and everyone kept trying to tell me how it was okay, and that it was all a part of mourning. Hell, she was like a sister to me. Even when she turned into a homicidal freak after her mother's death she was still Allison. She had still helped me with my algebra homework while we waited for Scott to get home from work. I could talk to her about anything. Whether it was boys or whatever supernatural occurrence was happening at the time. She was always there and then one day she just wasn't. That was the hardest part I guess; waking up and for a second it's like you've forgotten. For just a moment you're okay. Then the fog lifts and your heart starts to ache and there's a lump in your throat the size of your fist.

I used to wake up Scott in the middle of the night. He would say my heart was beating so fast that he felt it in his sleep. He'd run into my room ready to face whatever danger there was. But all he would find was me breathing so heavily that it was like I was choking on the air around me. That stopped after a while, and so did the sessions with the grief counselor. Sometimes it comes back and I'm left with these sickening thoughts afterwards.

 _You could've done something. Your brother is a true alpha and what are you? Useless._

My voice rings through my head with such intensity I have to shut my eyes tight to make it go away. This makes me glad none of my friends can read minds. For the time being my thoughts consume me alone. The trouble with that is that I'm still trying to figure out if that's a good thing.

I glance at the clock one last time before I envelop myself in the warmth of my blanket and somehow find sleep again.

* * *

The alarm blares from beside me and I groan loudly as I shut it off. Someone has taken the liberty of opening up my blinds for me, and the morning light floods my room far too harshly for my eyes. Nonetheless, I get up and out of bed before I take a quick shower and get dressed. As per usual, I walk down the hall to Scott's room. He's hardly ever awake before I am and its usually up to me to coax him out of bed, especially after the late night he's had. I'm sure I have my work cut out for me but I turn in to find his room completely void of him. Blowing the hair out of my face in frustration, I make my way downstairs to find something to eat. I'm hardly off the last step when I get rushed outside by the insurmountable force that is Scott McCall. He says something about being late for school and ushers me onto his bike placing a helmet haphazardly over my head before speeding off barely giving my time to strap it in.

Once at the schools parking lot, he gives me a quick hug and runs off to do god knows what. I place my bag over my shoulder and straighten out my jeans as I make my way to no place in particular. Scott said we were running late, but there's still at least 30 minutes before the morning bell. I plug my earphones into my phone and click shuffle, shoving it back in my back pocket as I start for the lacrosse field out of habit.

Usually the field is empty at this time but today is different. I can hear the sound of a ball slapping the net on a long stick before my shoes even reach the grass. Once I'm there I finally see who would be so demented as to practice so early, especially since morning practice doesn't start until next week. I'm met with two boys; one I've never seen before and Mason Hewitt. The latter is in some of my classes and so far, is the only person I've met at this school that isn't either supernaturally inclined or an immense pain in the ass.

Mason sees me almost immediately and drops his lacrosse stick as he jogs over to me a smile plastered on his face. "Danielita! Great to see you." I smile at him and wave a hello before looking behind him to his friend. He's putting all his gear back into a duffel bag on the grass. I raise my brow in question, and Mason follows my gaze and immediately calls him over.

"Liam! Come meet Dan the Man."

A small smile makes its way onto my lips as _Liam_ starts toward us, duffel now securely strapped over his chest. He grins at me and I find myself giving him the once over as Mason introduces us. He's tall, but then again, I'm only five feet three inches so just about anyone is taller than me. He has a strong athletic build, probably from playing lacrosse. My eyes continue to move up until they stop once I meet his gaze. His eyes are a striking shade of blue that makes me think someone took the "Battery Charge Blue" out of a sixty-four pack of Crayolas and filled in his irises with it. I shake my head to get my thoughts in check before I extend a hand towards Liam.

"Hey." I smile and wait for him to grab my hand before continuing. "Dani McCall-Delgado." He pauses for a second before reaching for my hand.

"I'm guessing it's safe to assume that you're the best friend I've heard so much about?" His smile widens a little and he gives my hand a gentle squeeze as he lets go. "I see my reputation precedes me then?" Liam offers, giving me a small smile. I give Mason a sideways glance before giving Liam an answer.

"Are you kidding me? I've literally spent the last semester hearing all about you. Liam this and Liam that. I think it would be a safe bet to say I know your blood type by now."

We all laugh at this and I find myself looking over at Liam to find his eyes set on me. Our eyes meet and I can just barely pick up on the blood rush that creeps up his neck. I offer him a smile and then motion for the boys to follow as we make our way to the main building.

"You weren't here last semester right?" I ask hoping my memory isn't that bad that I've been ignoring him this whole time.

"Yeah, I wasn't here. I just transferred from Devenfort Prep." his voice rises a couple octaves when he says the word transfer and I can't help but find that a bit strange. I laugh it off and continue speaking.

"Ah. A prep school boy. So what happened? The sweater vests were too much?" I ask half joking and not expecting a serious response.

Liam smiles at the floor before saying, "You could say that."

The more I ask about his old school, the more he seems to retreat into himself. So, I move on to less invasive topics to try ease him back into the conversation.

"So, do you have your schedule yet?" I ask, and Liam holds up his finger as he rummages through one of the pockets in his duffel. After several seconds, he pulls out a slip of paper and hands it to Mason and me. We spend some time talking about classes and whether Liam lucked out with his teachers. I mention that fact that all three of us have English together and that seems to erase whatever tension was left over from the Devenfort talk. We make plans to meet up during lunch and Liam and I exchange numbers.

Despite having just met him only moments ago, talking to Liam seems almost natural. I have known him for a total of two minutes and it is as if I have known him my whole life. A feeling that's probably due in no small part to the fact that Mason has been talking my ear off about him for a whole semester at this point, but regardless I revel in how easily the conversation seems to flow after the initial awkwardness wears off.

The conversation veers off to other topics – namely lacrosse – and I'm in the middle of asking Liam if he's going to try out for the team as we turn our heads to the main building where the bell has just rung. I get just enough time to fix my bag's angle on my shoulder before we start for the main building. This time with a little more urgency than before.

* * *

The school day goes on as expected. Uneventful for the most part. Mason, Liam and I have lunch together as planned and most of the time is spent grilling Liam on how his first day is going and whether he likes his classes so far.

"Honestly just be happy you haven't got Econ. Coach is great but trust me, I could go without the headache some days. I swear that man does not have the slightest idea of what an inside voice is."

The table erupts into a flurry of laughter at my comment before I turn my attention to Liam once again.

"Hey, speaking of Coach I meant to ask this morning but are you trying out for the team? I mean I figure you play seeing as you were practicing bright and early, but tryouts are next week right? You think I'll see you there in all your LAX glory?"

Liam smiles and takes a sip of his before answering. "I was thinking about it, but I heard you guys are supposed to be super good so I'm not even sure I'll cut it."

Mason laughs from across the table and this catches my attention.

"What's funny?" I ask in mild confusion.

"Don't listen to a word he says, Dani. This guy made the Devenfort without so much as lifting a finger! His place with the Cyclones is all but secured." Mason finishes off with a scoff as he picks up his scraps and waves a goodbye just as the bell rings.

"Okay so then I guess I'll see you **both** there then?" I yell after him and he gives me an okay over his shoulder as I turn to Liam who now wears a sheepish smile on his face. "Okay so how good **are** you?"

His face erupts into a smirk I can only describe as devilish as he moves to pick up both my tray and his.

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

"You're no fun. You know that right?" I say through a playful glare. "Okay well come on I know you have a free period and I do to. So, I'm making it my good Samaritan duty to show you ins and outs of Beacon High."

Liam smiles politely and follows a few steps behind me as I do my best impression of your typical annoying tour guide.

"And we're walking and walking and this…" my presentation of the library is cut short as a hum breaks through the air. I hold up my finger and slip my phone out of my pocket to find messages from Lydia, Scott and Stiles all flooding into my inbox. I thank my lucky stars that no one has decided to make some sort of pack group chat because with half the shit that goes on in this town my phone would never catch a break.

"Jesus. Where's the fire? That's a lot of messages." Liam's voice rings through my thoughts but I ignore it, too caught up with the text on my screen.

 **Scott: Derek escaped Deaton's. Going to look for him.**

I'm about to offer my help when more texts come through and I roll my eyes as I read them through.

 **Scott: Stay in school.**

 **Scott: Please**

"Figures. Every time" I groan inwardly and lock my phone, placing it back in my pocket before looking up at a clearly confused Liam. "Sorry, just my brother and his friends. They're always getting into something and they never let me help. It's kind of exhausting always getting left behind."

Liam stares on at me, obviously confused with why that would make me so upset, but after a few seconds his face softens and he smiles. " I believe you were introducing me to this fine building right here."

I laugh at his attempt to return to our interrupted tour as if nothing has happened and continue with my explanation of the library that is currently under construction.

The rest of the day goes on without so much as a peep from either my brother or his twitchy best friend. The whole thing makes me pretty anxious, but in all honesty, I'm more concerned with how I'm going to get home. Both my brother and Stiles had taken their respective vehicles and gone on the hunt for a teenaged Hale. So, I'm pretty much marooned on campus once the final bell rings.

I consider getting a ride from Lydia along with Kira, but quickly decide against it. Kira would most likely fill the ride with relationship talk and I am not up for that. As much as I love her, listening to her talk about her issues with Scott isn't exactly something I thoroughly enjoy.

I ultimately decide that a walk might do me some good and the weather is agreeable so I figure why not and pick my hair up.

The house is a way away. But it was either a calm stroll through the streets of Beacon Hills or a jumpy ride on a district bus. The bus would most likely be filled with hyperactive jerks and I get enough of that from Stiles. Before leaving, I go back into the building and head towards my locker. The idea of walking is okay, but the idea of walking with a backpack filled with heavy books strapped to my back? Not so good. I also switch out my shoes and clothes for more suitable garments.

I replace my ratty converse with a sleek pair of my running shoes – I picked up the habit of stashing running gear in my locker just in case something crazy happens. I also upgrade my outfit with some running shorts and one of Scott's track jackets that I may or may not have stolen from his locker.

By now, the campus has cleared. Only a few stray cars sit in the parking lot. Most likely belonging to teachers and students administering – and attending – after school detention. The building itself is now enveloped in a sweet silence. It is so foreign to its usual loud rustle and bustle of high school students and staff alike. It's as if it is an entirely different place from the one I have grown accustomed to. The streets mirror the school in many ways. It is not quite rush hour yet, so only a few cars pass by me on my run. Yet, the familiarity of the town grows old quickly and soon enough I find myself on a trail in the woods.

The trees are thicker here, offering shade from the setting sun and a crisp breeze. Especially during this part of the year. The actual trail itself isn't as worn as the one most people use. It makes me feel like I'm just running in the wild. No trail or guide, just me and the open air.

For the first time in months I feel like my breathing is not forced. Instead things are how they should be and I hold on to that feeling as if the world might fall apart again if I don't.

The run does me well. It's been a while since I came out and enjoyed the things I used to like. It's also been a while since I had the chance to do normal things. Living in a town that's constantly being rampaged by one supernatural entity or another really takes its toll on the normality of the place.

I arrive home later than expected. But then again, I wasn't exactly trying all that much to get there too soon. I notice the blue Jeep before anything else, and mutter obscenities under my breath. I curse out both Scott and Stiles for leaving me stranded at school.

"I'm home!" I yell as I drop my jacket by the door next to my recently removed shoes. No answer comes from any direction. This strikes me as strange seeing as Stile's car was outside, and if I'm not mistaken so was my dad's.

I'm suddenly aware of the delicious scent that permeates the air around me. I close my eyes and breathe in the beautiful aroma of egg rolls and special fried rice. I make my way to the kitchen to find a messy dining room table and a lone egg roll in a box of takeout.

If there was any hesitation in grabbing it I didn't notice. As soon as my fingertips reach it it's as if star-crossed lovers have finally come together.

 _Look at you. Untouched and innocent, my dear sweet egg roll._

Despite being a little cold, it was still pretty good. Perhaps not the best choice for a cool down food. But I'll be damned if after everything I have been through I am denied the simple pleasure of an egg roll.

I'm just outside Scott's room when Stiles head slams into the wall. I jump back, not having expected that, and a small squeal manages to leave my mouth before Derek speaks.

"Where's the alpha? I want to talk to the alpha and no one else. Now!" Stiles, clearly not happy with getting mushed into Scott's wall, looks over at me. Derek follows his gaze and soon his eyes land on me.

"Derek?" there is a look of confusion spread across his face, but he still releases Stiles' head at the sound of my voice. I look over to Stiles and give him a quick nod to let him know it is okay to leave the room. He hurries out of the room furiously dialing Scott's number on his keypad and I am left behind to watch Baby Derek.

I turn around to find his intense gaze still set on me. But it is different somehow. As if he's seeing an old friend for the first time in years.

"What are you?" my eyebrow furrows at his question, but he doesn't bother explaining himself.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're not a werewolf, you don't smell like one. But you are something." his response offers no insight whatsoever and I stare at him unsure of what to say.

"I'm not anything, Derek. You know that." He closes the space between us and grabs one of my wrists tightly. His face is a breath away from mine and his expression has changed into one of pure rage.

"Don't lie to me. I can smell it on you. You're something and…". A noise from outside puts a pause to the conversation and he releases my hand, motioning for me to check it out.

Everything happens so fast. One moment I'm leaning over the window sill trying to see what made that noise. My head is still reeling from Derek's words. Then, I'm on the floor with my left temple throbbing and black spots in my vision. An incredibly surprised Stiles is now kneeling by my side. He's staring at the window as Kate climbs out taking Derek with her.

 **Okay! This one is a little different. If this is your first time reading this story disregard all of what I'm saying but I added some bits for those of you that read the older version. Nothing too major, just a little interaction between the children that wasn't there before. Enjoy and don't forget to leave reviews and comments so I know if you guys like it**

 **-V**


	2. Chapter 2

**Discipline**

"Do you know how many concussions Scott has had in the past year alone? Because I'm pretty sure it's in the hundreds by now." my words are slurred and I'm faintly aware of how much this doesn't help my case, but I keep going nonetheless. "I mean it's not like I got shot or anything. I hit my head on something. I'm fine. Honestly mom this is totally unnecessary."

Mind you I'm saying all of this as I barely manage to keep my eyes open. At this point my mom is practically dragging me through the hospital as I tumble along barely staying conscious. The corridors seem endless until suddenly my body is pulled in a different direction than the one we were walking in and black spots fill my vision.

"The thing about Scott is that he's a true alpha werewolf and unless you have anything you want to share- and I hope to god you don't- then you're getting this checkup. If you're fine then you get to go home and that's that. So cooperate and you can leave sooner." I pout like a child as I try to hide the fact that her comment on me made my heart speed up a bit. Even in my current state, Derek's words still echo in my head every so often, and they certainly don't help the throbbing.

She orders me to sit on one of those examination beds once we find an empty checkup room, and then excuses herself to find the doctor. Which makes just about zero sense seeing as I very well know she can do a routine checkup on her own. She must be pretty frazzled if she's letting someone else have a look at me when she's perfectly capable.

A couple of minutes pass and she walks back in with a doctor I assume must be new because I don't think I have ever seen him before. The checkup goes off without a hitch and by some miracle I don't actually have a concussion. The moment the doctor said this I stick my tongue out at my mother. All she does was glare and turns back to listen to the doctor. The good news is I'm allowed to leave, though. So, I don't really care about anything else.

We make our way back to the waiting room where my dad is sitting in one of those godawful cushioned seats. More uncomfortable vessels have never been created. As soon as he see us he get up and places his pamphlet on "Recognizing the Signs of Premature Menopause" down. My mother and I look at each other and struggle to hold back a laugh as my dad rushes to us. He doesn't say anything for a bit, instead he just looks at us both as if we're from another planet. It doesn't take long to notice that it's because we look so similar. He hasn't seen us side by side in so many years it's probably a bit of an adjustment to see a mini version of your ex-wife standing right next to the original. But the fact that she's my mother makes the resemblance somewhat less surprising.

I get it, though. We're almost exactly alike. Her dark brown eyes and squared jaw are things both Scott and I have. But I got her long dark curls and the same thick lips she has. If it weren't for that fact that I call her mom all the time, people wouldn't find it unbelievable if I told them she was my older sister. But above all the physical reasons our personalities are pretty much identical. From the way we take care of our problems to the way we both stand with our hands on our hips, and especially to the way we react whenever Scott comes home late and injured from whatever supernatural disaster he may have been dealing with.

My dad gives me a worried look before we both look up at my mom expectantly. She starts reading a bunch of medical details from a clipboard. I tune out almost instantly, not wanting to hear the same exact thing the doctor told me only a few minutes ago. After an incredibly over done release form process and several dozen warnings to wait at least an hour before going to bed, I'm finally able to walk out of the hospital. Dad hands me my phone as we get near the car. I had to give it to him because it wouldn't stop beeping in my pocket and cellphones aren't allowed in the hospital.

"That thing has been making noise nonstop for that past half hour." He says as he climbs into the driver's seat next to me. I unlock my phone to try and find the source of the incessant beeping for myself. I'm not at all surprised when I find my messages inbox completely flooded with messages from both Scott and Stiles. Even Kira left me a couple of voicemails and messages. Hell, I was surprised Baby Derek didn't decide to give me a call too.

All of the messages say pretty much the same thing. Something about big guys with bone masks, Kate Argent, and $117 million bearer bonds from the Hale vault being stolen. I'm scrolling through one of the message threads when Stiles face pops up on my screen indicating that I'm receiving a call from him. I answer almost immediately, not wanting to wait any longer for explicit details on whatever the hell was going on at the high school of all places.

"Dani? Are you there? Oh and Scott says to ask about your head." Stiles voice rings through my earphones.

"I'm fine, Stiles. No concussion and I'm on my way home right now. You can tell Scott to cancel the funeral." I respond blandly as I look over to my dad whose face looks somewhat concerned. I place my hand over the microphone and whisper to him.

"I didn't answer my messages for that past hour so naturally our mutual friend Scotty decided that meant I was dead." he mouths an _Oh_ and places his eyes back on the road in front of us.

"What's up, Stilinski. Give me the four one one." there's a breath of pause as Stiles tries to find the right way to say things.

"I've got good news and bad news." my breath catches in my throat and I can instantly feel my eyes start to sting. Images of Allison's death flash before me, and I can barely get out an "okay" to let Stiles know he can continue. The voice in my head starts up again and I can barely breathe as I wait for his response.

 _You should've been there. It's your fault. Another one of your friends is probably dead and where were you? Concussion? You heard the doctor. The only thing wrong with you is that you're a coward._

I shut my eyes as tight as possible trying to keep these thoughts at bay. Stiles' voice brings me back and I try to focus on his words.

"Well the good news is that Derek is the big bad wolf again." I relax slightly at this statement but not enough to completely calm my breathing as I wait for the bad news to come.

"But the bad news is that he's middle aged again so your lifelong dream of dating him has been crushed yet again because of an insurmountable age gap." the line goes quiet as he gives me time to assess that last bit of information. I can feel the heat rising in my chest, but I will my rage away. Everyone is okay and that's all that matters.

"You're right Stiles. I guess I'll just have to settle for whatever dumb jock decides to pay mind to me. Oh what a terrible life I lead." I place my hand over my forehead for extra drama that I know he can't see as I imagine the shit eating grin that is no doubt plastered on his face right now.

"Look, just fill me in at school tomorrow. Have a good night Stiles." I hear him mutter a goodnight before hanging up and place my phone back in my pocket. This time on silent, hoping there's no more need for it for the rest of the night. At least.

* * *

"You got your grades up just like Coach told you to." Stiles reassures Scott as the three of us walk onto the field. "Dani, please tell your true alpha werewolf brother that he is worrying for no reason."

I look up from my copy of _Animal Farm_ and give Scott a small nod of approval before returning to my book. In all honesty, I am not even reading the book; if anything I'm using it to downplay the fact that even after a week my head is still spinning with thoughts on three little words.

 _What are you?_

"Thank you. Thank you so much Danielle. Your words of encouragement truly are an inspiration. Have you ever thought of becoming a motivational speaker, because I think it's the perfect job for you? Honestly."

I groan loudly and place my book in one of the pockets on Stiles' duffel, ignoring his protests – along with my own silent ones – as I turn to look up at my brother.

"Look Scott, we have problems. Big problems. One hundred and seventeen big problems if you want to get technical with it." Stiles jabs me in the rib cage, clearly not too satisfied with the way my pep talk was heading. I glare at him before continuing.

"The point is: yeah there's obviously a lot of shit that's messed up for us right now, and I get that that scares you. Trust me I'm scared too. But if there's one thing that shouldn't scare you, it's your place on the team. Kay?" Scott looks past me and towards the field, pointing towards a spot where most of the team from last year is assembled.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Dani." I move my gaze to the specific spot where Scott is pointing only to find my new friend Liam Dunbar at one of the goals, and he's not letting a single shot get past him.

A wide-eyed Stiles gawks at Liam from beside me and I can practically feel Scotts' nerves as they radiate off of him. Shaking my head, I move over to Stiles to close his mouth before making my way over to the middle of the field. I hear Stiles mumble something about needing to practice before tryouts, this makes a small smile creep onto my face.

 _Idiots_

Just as I'm walking up to the group assembled on the field I hear one of the boys in my year- Garrett, I think is his name- tell Liam that he's got a shot at being the team's first freshman captain. I choose this moment in time to speak up.

"Wow okay. Remind me again why you were stressing making the team?" suddenly I have over half a dozen pairs of eyes concentrated on me, but the only ones I'm worried about are a certain pair of electric blue ones whose gaze are firmly planted on my dark chocolate ones. Liam stays quiet, seemingly, at a loss for words. I cock my head to the side and smile waiting for him to answer.

Garrett shoves Liam softly, pushing him somewhat closer to me. Liam coughs awkwardly as he finds his voice again.

"Um… Th-thanks. Yeah, I'm not that good. Just luck, you know?" he finishes his sentence by clearing his throat as he rocks back and forth on his heels. I smile at him and nod my head in acknowledgment before I speak.

"So does this mean I'll see you at tryouts later?' I ask without breaking eye contact. There's something mesmerizing about his eyes. Like he's got the whole Pacific Ocean trapped inside them. It is only now that we're up close that I notice how attractive he is. He's standing in front of me sweating and breathing heavily from his early morning practice with his cheeks all red and his hair a flattened, damp mess of light brown strands on his forehead and he still looks good. And the whole look seems pretty effortless for him.

He answers rather quickly this time, as if making up for the first time.

"Y-yeah. Of course I'll be there." his words are tumbling out of his mouth at an alarming rate, and I can't help but think how cute he looks all flustered.

I smile and offer him a knowing smile nonetheless. This seems to wake him up a bit, because he clears his throat and straightens his posture before he decides to continue. This time with a different, much deeper tone of voice.

"What I meant was: that could happen. I mean I don't know; I might show up. I might not. I have to check if it doesn't mess with any plans, you know? I don't want to bail on anyone." I question the why he's acting so strange, but make no audible comment on the subject. I wouldn't want to embarrass him. So instead I nod my head and keep the conversation going.

"Right, no of course. The last thing you want is an angry girlfriend busting your balls for ditching her for a lacrosse tryout of all things." I tease and watch as his cheeks become a darker shade of red than they already were.

"What? I don't…Uh. I don't have a girlfriend. So there will be no busting of…balls happening here." he trails off unsure of himself, and I find myself struggling to hold back my laugh.

"Oh well don't worry about that. With skills like those? You'll be cuffed in no time." I look back to see Stiles glaring intently at Liam, while my incredibly nosey werewolf brother tunes in to my conversation. "I better get back before Clark Kent over there starts using that heat vision of his."

 _Lord knows Scott already has the super hearing part down._

"But hey, if you're trying out that means you'll get to meet my brothers." I motion over to Scott and Stiles behind me and Liam nods his head and chuckles a little.

"Don't be a stranger, yeah? We can still expect you at lunch, right?" I start walking back as I give him and the rest of the guys a small wave over my shoulder. Liam only nods and goes back to his position in the goal.

* * *

"Are you going to say something or am I going to spend the rest of the day with you two idiots breathing down my neck?" I spit out as I turn on my heel to face my brother and his hyperactive best friend. Stiles only offers me a glare before he says anything. Crossing his arms over his chest, he finally speaks.

"He got **kicked out** of his old school! He didn't transfer, okay? You don't exactly get expelled because you put gum under the freaking desks." I roll my eyes as I tap my fingers furiously on my Geometry book. At this point my patience is wearing thin from having them follow me around practically all day yelling fun facts about Liam Dunbar through the halls.

"Oh and when did you find that out exactly? When you interrogated him in the locker room?" Stiles' smug smile leaves his face as he takes in what I'm saying.

"Oh and while you're at it why don't you tell me how many times you should've gotten kicked out of school for doing something stupid? Because as far as I'm concerned even just getting arrested usually calls for expulsion. But not everyone's daddy is the sheriff. " My voice has risen a bit and several people in the hall stop to see what all the fuss is. Luckily Scott cuts in before Stiles can hear the end of my rant.

"Okay okay. Look, we're not trying to turn you against your friend or anything. We just need you to be careful. Stiles is right. If he got kicked out of his old school then it must have been pretty ba-"

I cut him off before he can continue.

"It was Devenford Prep, Scott. He probably wore the wrong colored belt one too many times and the administration got sick of his "rebellious attitude". I am no longer yelling but my tone of voice still indicates how royally pissed off I still am.

"Even so. Just please be rational about this. We don't know anything about him and if you haven't noticed the good to bad ratio on new people isn't exactly in our favor." I can tell he's trying really hard to convince me so I sigh loudly and nod. He gives me a smile and pulls me into a hug. I hear Stiles blow air furiously out of his mouth and open one of my arms to him.

"Come on, Stilinski. This is as good of an apology as you're going to get." He rolls his eyes before finally giving in and coming in to the hug. I close my eyes and breathe in the scent of Jeep and curly fries mixed with exhaust fumes and vets office before I exhale loudly and say.

"You guys are idiots." I let go of both of them and make my way to the lacrosse field just as the final bell rings signaling the end of the school day. "Go get dressed. Tryouts started like a half hour ago." I yell over my shoulder as a mass of bodies starts to flood the hallway. i follow the crowd through the doors nd make my way to the field.

I find a seat next to Kira and Malia on the bleachers, and almost instantly regret it when I walk in on some sort of conversation about- you guessed it- Scott. Apparently Scott gave Kira a "chaste" kiss today in the hall and it was their first kiss since their first real kiss. _Whatever the hell that means._ After I reassure her a bit I tune out of the conversation completely and pay attention to the tryouts going on before me. Mason shows up about halfway through and takes a seat next to me as I fill him in on everything he missed. Which, besides Stiles almost dying after the first mile, isn't much.

Liam - who is apparently the love child of Jackson Whittemore and some sort of lacrosse god - seems to be good at just about everything. He was the first one to finish running and he didn't even look tired. He literally dropped down to do pushups without a breath of hesitation. Whereas Stiles was the last one to come in and he looks like someone should be calling a priest.

Scott did well enough, but Liam definitely stole the show. He caught me looking at him several times throughout his warmups and what not. Every time I would point and pretend I was talking to Mason about whatever else was going on anywhere else on the field. He would only smirk and give me a wave, which I sheepishly returned. Malia caught me several times too and went on relentlessly about it until I finally told her it was Liam I was looking at you.

"Well the good news is you both smell the same." I lift my chin from its place in my palm and look over to Malia totally confused until her words set in.

"Well yeah, but you and Kira are here so that's why. He's trying to show off for the pretty juniors."

This comment only receives an eye roll before she starts going off about chemo signals and what not.

"Trust me. If he's showing off for anyone, it's the super cute freshman sitting next to me." Malia bumps my hip with her before continuing. "You know the one he met on his first day here?" I open my mouth to protest, but end up getting cut off by a shrill sound feared by all.

Coach blows his whistle and makes the guys do "two on ones". Everyone on the field gets in line in front of Scott and Stiles and one by one they advance towards them as both of them try to keep them from getting to the goal. Scott and Stiles finally decide to stop sucking and manage to block everyone.

"Those two are like sons to me!" Coach yells from his place by the bench and I can't help but laugh at his remark. Scott and Stiles continue to block everyone coming towards them. That is, until it gets to be Liam's turn. He does some crazy bob and twist move and totally gets past both of them with no trouble. Once he scores a goal he looks over to the bleachers directly at me and smiles smugly. I glare at him and give him a smirk in response, shaking my head at how cocky he is. That's when Malia decides to chime in.

"That was luck. Do over!" she screams from the bleachers. Coach explains how there's no "do overs" in practice as Kira and I struggle to pull her back into her seat. She swats our hands away without difficultly and continues. "Ten bucks on Scott and Stiles!" this gets Coach's attention and he tells Liam to go again. Liam nods and walks back up to the front of the line, his proud smile still plastered on his face.

I can tell Scott is angry by the way he moves. The fact that Liam was practically showing him up the whole practice had obviously gotten to him by now.

"Scott, I know you're angry but please think this through. **Be rational**." I whisper, knowing very well that he can hear me. However, my plea is ignored and the second time Liam charges at them Scott goes under and flips him over. Liam is laid out on the ground in obvious pain and that's when I rush to the middle of the field. Liam is still on the ground when I get there, but I can see he is struggling to get to his feet even as he insists that he is okay. Coach tells Scott and Stiles to take Liam to the nurse and all three of us rush out of the field and into the building.

The nurse tells us we should take him to the hospital and Scott promises to meet us at the parking lot as he dashes to the opposite side of campus and towards the locker room. So, Stiles and I are charged with getting Liam to the Jeep. A task that would not normally have been so hard, but with Liam unable to walk more than a few feet without assistance makes the whole thing that much harder.

Minutes later Scott climbs in to Stiles' jeep. I'm sitting in the back with Liam's head in my lap. He's still visibly in pain as he groans from his spot on my lap.

"Are you fucking kidding me? What are you nine years old?" I yell at Scott as Stiles pulls out of the parking lot. Scott offers me an apology to which I respond:

"I'm pretty sure you broke his ankle, Scott! You don't need to be apologizing to me." I exclaim from the backseat. Stiles chooses now to notice mine and Liam's placement in the seat and he practically drives off the road in a fit of childish rage.

"Hey that is **not** allowed. Sit up, buddy. That is unacceptable!" Stiles swats his hand at us while using his free hand to hold the steering wheel. This only makes me angrier and I slap his hand away and tell him to focus on driving.

* * *

The hospital is somewhat busy tonight. According to Scott and my mother some guy's entire family was murdered last night and he's the only one who survived. Naturally the Sheriff's department is worried that the guy who did it will come to finish the job so they've got about three quarters of the sheriff's department stationed in the hospital for "security". When we walk in with Scott and Stiles supporting Liam – because he can't walk since Scott tried to kill him – I go over to the front desk immediately. I'm giving the nurse at the desk Liam's name when I hear my mom ask what the hell we were doing here.

"Liam got hurt in tryouts today and the nurse told us he needed to go to the hospital." I speak up, but I'm not looking at my mother. Instead I'm glaring Scott down.

Mom brings over a wheelchair after noticing the fact that Liam can barely stand without assistance. She wheels him off around the corner and shouts a room number to the nurse in the front desk over her shoulder. I stare off in the direction they disappeared into and silently hope that Liam's injuries are minor.

"…if you had put even a little werewolf strength into the hit - Liam's body would be in two halves. It wasn't your fault." Suddenly the same rage from this afternoon overcomes me again and I find myself screaming at them for the third time that day.

"Is that what you think this is about? Freaking werewolf strength?" I make sure I lower my voice at the mention of _werewolf strength._ As mad as I might be, I have no intentions of exposing my brother to the entirety of the Beacon Hills Hospital night staff.

"You hurt him without needing strength, Scott. This is totally your fault. If you had put your insecurities aside for even just a second Liam would not be here right now. This isn't about whether or not you used your strength. You had the choice to act mature and deal with things rationally but you didn't, and now he's probably benched for the whole season."

I can tell I'm making Scott feel worse than he already did, but I didn't care. He had screwed up royally and I wasn't about to let him think it was okay to act like that. I turned on my heel and made my way towards the room my mom had said Liam would be in.

"Way to go, captain. I hope you're happy." I spat out just as I turned the corner not bothering to look at either of them. I speed walk down the corridors trying to find Liam's room. I can already feel the guilt creeping up on me. I know my words to Scott were harsh, but I was mad. I'm still mad. I finally find the room where Liam is supposed to be and I'm about to walk in when I hear the conversation going on inside. I peer through the open door to see the same doctor who treated me is currently checking Liam's ankle.

"…you'll probably still need an x-ray to determine just how bad it actually is, but I wouldn't be too worried about that. Mind telling me what happened?" the doctor asks and his tone suggests he's more than just your friendly neighborhood MD. At least to Liam.

"It was my fault. I went up against two juniors trying to impress this girl. Oh and if that isn't bad enough, one of the juniors was team captain _and_ her brother." Liam exhales deeply and that's when I tune out of the conversation, not wanting to eavesdrop any longer. But I can feel the heat rise to my cheeks as I replay what he said last in my head. Scott walks up behind me and nearly gives me a heart attack when he speaks.

"Dani, I'm sorry. Look I know it was my fault. I was acting like an idiot because I was so scared of losing my place as captain. You were right and I just thought you should know." I turn around and hug him tightly. Even if I was mad just a second ago it wasn't worth treating him the way I had.

"I'm sorry too, Scott. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I was just so mad, but you didn't deserve that." Scott hugs me back, but our embrace is cut short when his phone starts ringing. He picks up the call and listens intently to the person on the other line before quickly hanging up. He turns back around to face me starts shoving me into Liam's room.

"Stay inside and don't open the door no matter what. Do you understand me?" I nod my head and watch as he runs off leaving me behind. I turn around to walk into the room but instead I slam into a solid mass. I almost fall over from the force of hitting whatever it was I hit, but strong arms encircle my waist and catch me before I hit the ground. I look up to see Liam staring at me. Once I regain my balance I stand on my own and we stand there for a few seconds in silence.

"A-are you okay?" we both speak at the same time and our words mix together. This causes us to laugh and he motions for me to go first.

"Look I'm really sorry about my brothers. I promise they're actually really great people. It's just you showed up and you were amazing and Scott was just trying to secure his spot as captain." I explain quickly, making it sound like one big sentence run-on sentence.

"Wait, Stilinski **and** McCall are both your brothers?"

I stare at him slightly confused until I realize what I said and that it's not the first time I've phrased it that way without explanation.

"Well Scott is my brother as in we have the same parents and last name, but I've known Stiles my whole life practically and he's Scott's best friend. Plus he treats me just like Scott does – if not worse – so he's pretty much another older brother, you could say."

Liam opens his mouth but he gets cut off by a scream. My mom's scream to be exact. I move to go rush to her, but I stop in my tracks once I see a boy covered in blood turn the corner. Liam moves in front of me and tries to push me into the room. But he's not fast enough and the boy grabs both of us and starts towards the nearest stairwell.

I struggle against the boy's apparent super strength as Liam screams for help, but no one comes. The boy keeps dragging us up the stairs clearly not very concerned with our wellbeing. I probably hit my head on every single step and if I didn't have a concussion last week I sure as hell do now.

Once we get to the roof, the boy throws me to the side and my head slams into the cement by their feet. The pain is almost enough to make me blackout, but I don't. I watch helplessly as the boy takes Liam into a chokehold and holds him over the edge. I plead for him to stop, but he ignores me and goes about his business. That's when Scott rushes through the door to find us in our places.

"Sean stop! Whatever you are and whatever you need, we can help you. Just let him go." Scott yells at the boy as he approaches him slowly. _Sean_ growls and quickly responds.

"Wendigos don't need help – we need food!" at this moment Liam manages to escape Sean's chokehold and he faces him, still too close to the edge for comfort. Scott leaps several feet into the air and lands somewhat near the edge of the roof. That's when Sean decides to throw Liam over the edge. I can see it happening in slow motion as adrenaline makes the pain in my head go away. I reach out to my side trying to grab Liam's leg before Sean can throw him over. But I'm not fast or strong enough and we both go over. I can feel myself falling over the edge and I don't panic as I accept the inevitable. But then I feel someone grab my arm. It's Liam. I can see him struggling to hold both of us up with the one hand he still has on the ledge. He tries to lift us up over the edge but this doesn't help. I can hear Scott struggling on the rooftop with Sean and just as Liam is about to let go his head pops up from over the edge. Liam's final fingers let go of the ledge and that's when it happens.

Scott bites down on Liam's arm in an attempt to keep us from falling. I hear Liam scream in pain as the fangs dig into his flesh. He digs his nails into my arm not letting me fall, although now I assume it was more so because of the immense pain of the bite. Then, Scott pulls us up. I wonder how he got rid of Sean so quickly without even moving, but once I'm on solid ground again I don't bother asking. Sean is lying on the roof with a big cut in his back.

 _I guess the asshole who killed his family came back to finish the job._

I look up to see Liam clutching his arm and I see that Scott's bite looks pretty bad. I turn to my brother to find him already looking at me. From his place next to me on the ground he gets up and walks towards Liam punching him one time and easily sending him into an unconscious state. I stare at him wide eyed, but when he turns back to me his panicked expression mirrors mine.

He digs through his pockets for a second before pulling out his keys and throwing them in my direction. I catch them with ease, and wait for him to say something.

"Take my bike and get it home. I'll grab Liam and meet you there. Hurry, before someone comes up and sees you here." I nod my head and give Liam once last glance before running off and into the stairwell.

 **Okay! SO this used to be two separate chapters but the first one was a little filler hardly over a thousand words some just mushed it into the old chapter 3 and now we have the new chapter two. Not too many changes I think, mostly just a lot of editing instead of rewriting really. Enjoy**

 **-V**


	3. Chapter 3

Miscommunication

Helping my older brother stuff an unconscious fifteen-year-old boy into his bathtub so that I could be tasked with wrapping him in duct tape while Scott freaks out six feet down the hall was not something I had ever thought I would be doing on a school night in the middle of my freshman year. Yet, here I was doing exactly that. Scott hadn't stopped pacing since the second he had set Liam down on his bed. He didn't even want to let me clean the wound he had left on Liam's arm. We argued for fifteen minutes straight until he finally agreed to let me wash and bandage it. But even then, he had insisted on putting him in the bathtub because god forbid someone – Stiles – walk in to see me placing bandages on him. I mean what would they think?

We finally manage to set Liam down in a good position in the tub and Scott forces me to duct tape his mouth, legs and, hands before doing anything about his wound. I don't protest and silently begin wrapping tape around Liam. Scott leaves seconds later to call Stiles and wait for him to get here. So once again I am left alone with a teenaged werewolf.

I get the first aid kit and a clean wash cloth from Scott's closet and begin to work on Liam's bite.

"That's great you know?" I ask an unconscious Liam as I began to clean the blood around his arm. "I mean of course something like this happens. A new guy shows up and he's decent, he doesn't give me shitty douchebag lines, and he's polite and friends with one of my friends…" I move my gaze to his bite but continue talking aloud.

"Oh and he's good looking too, and not even in that gross gelled back hair and the new whatever eights way like just about everyone else in my grade. He's hot and he doesn't even have to try." I turn around to wring the washcloth in the sink. Only this time when I go back to look at Liam I find a perfectly conscious version of him looking at me. I sink my head into my hands and exhale loudly.

"And now he's totally awake and listening to me blabber on about how hot he is." I look up to find him still looking at me. Its several seconds before I decide to speak up again. "Okay, here's the deal. I'm going to remove the tape from your mouth and if you scream I will punch you in the nose like you're a great white and this is _Deep Blue Sea_." Liam's eyes widen a little at my threat and I wait for him to relax a bit before continuing.

"But if you can be quiet and hold a normal conversation, the tape stays off. At least until my brother gets back anyway. Got it?" he nods his head and I move closer to help him get out of the tub. We manage to get out of the bathroom and into Scott's connected room – even with Liam's legs all bound in tape – where we settle down on his bed. I sit in front of Liam and gesture to my lips to let him know I'm removing the tape. I remove the tape slowly and then place it on the back of my hand.

Liam is quiet for a second and we just sit there silently looking at each other.

"Do you have any questions?" I offer and he half glares half smiles at me.

"Oh, you mean besides why the hell I'm in a stranger's house covered in duct tape and with a bandage on my arm from when your brother _bit_ me?" he arches his eyebrow at me and I laugh nervously as I scratch the back of my neck with the tape free hand.

"Look I get that this is all a little wild for you, but I promise you are totally and completely safe and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. None of us are. Scott and Stiles will be here soon and they'll explain everything to you. I'm sorry but that's all I can say for now."

Liam breaks eye contact clearly not happy with my answer. Not that I blame him, it was a pretty shitty answer given what he's been through today. I get up from the bed and walk to the desk in Scott's room to grab a plate that we set out for when Liam woke up. I walk back and sit on the bed in front of him again.

"Um…we didn't know what you liked, but we figured this was a pretty safe bet." I smile weakly at him and he scoffs at the slices of pizza before answering.

"So, am I supposed grow an extra pair of arms or is the food going to magically fly into my mouth?" I stare at him in confusion until I realize that he's referencing the fact that his hands are still bound. I curse under my breath and then offer him another smile before letting him know my great big plan.

"Well, I can't remove that tape because of Scott and frankly I wrapped it around too many times to be bothered to go through the process of taking it off. So, I'll just feed it you, then." Liam gives me a look that says _no way in hell_ and I glare at him.

"Or you could starve, Dunbar. The choice is entirely yours." I make sure to take a big bite out of one of Liam's slices before offering him the other one. A small chuckle escapes his lips and he scoffs lightly.

"Are you seriously eating my only source of nutrition, McCall?"

My chewing continues for a few more seconds and then I give him only a content nod as a response. After several more minutes of resistance, he finally gives in and starts to take bites out of the slice of pizza I'm holding for him. For almost 20 minutes we sit there comfortably eating pizza and having stupid conversations. Then, Liam decides to be an asshole.

"So, what's this about me being hot?" I choke on my bite of pizza and get up from my place on the bed to reach for some soda. "I mean the whole 'doesn't even have to try' thing really gave me something to think about." As I make my way back to the bed I notice the lopsided grin firmly planted on Liam's face.

"Oh please. As if you haven't been waiting for me to say it." I move closer to him so that there's practically only hair's length of space between us.

He seems to consider his options before he says, "What's wrong with that?" I glare at him playfully but all he does is avoid eye contact and I can't help but think he looks somewhat lost in thought. There's a long silence before either one of us decides to speak. Liam goes first.

"That guy. The one who dragged us up to the roof…" he pauses for a moment, unsure of himself. "His eyes. When he had me on the edge of the building, his eyes were completely white and his teeth…" I place the pizza down on the plate and move closer to him so that our knees are now touching.

"I know. I saw them too." I reach up to his chest and hesitate a bit before grabbing his duct taped hands. "I promise as soon as this is over we can sit down have some coffee and I will answer all of your questions."

Liam gives me a small nod and I remove my hand from his as Stiles' loud cough comes from the doorway.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Danielle McCall-Delgado?" my eyes instinctively roll at the sound of my full name. You'd think he'd have caught me trafficking drugs or something, but no. I was literally eating pizza with a friend. Granted that said friend was wrapped head to toe in duct tape, and at this point we'd probably broken several laws on personal space bubbles, but still.

"Just because Scott kidnapped him doesn't mean we shouldn't feed him, Stiles."

"Danielle, huh?" I look at Liam and offer him a sarcastic pout before removing the tape from my hand and placing it back over his mouth. Mouthing a simple _Good luck as_ I get up to go put the dishes in the sink downstairs.

"When I get back, he better look exactly the way I left him. " I warn as I walk out of the room making sure to give Liam thumbs up of encouragement.

* * *

 _Why do you care so much? It's not like he's all that important._

I let the suds run down my fingers, trying to figure out the answer to that very question. Why **did** I care? I had only known Liam for what? A little over a week, and I doubt he would be this concerned over my wellbeing if the roles were reversed. The sound of some sort of commotion upstairs brings me back from my thoughts.

I'm making my way up the staircase when a mass of jumbled limbs crashes into me. The sound of Stiles groans of pain clue me in as to what might have happened. I'm struggling to get out from underneath the immense weight when someone pulls me up with ease.

He pauses in front of me with anger evident in his eyes. His once strikingly blue orbs have turned into a cold gray so different form their natural form that I find myself thinking the boy in front of me might not be Liam. His face softens for a moment before he throws the door open and runs off into the night.

 _This is going to be a problem. A very_ _ **big**_ _one._

* * *

I'm trying furiously to open my locker. I have been at this school for over five months now and every morning I struggle to open the godforsaken thing. I am about to give up when someone slams into me.

The perks of having a corner locker? You're constantly getting body slammed by idiots who can't be bothered to look where they're going. At least this one has the decency to help me pick up the books he made me drop.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that." the voice catches my attention and I realize that this particular idiot is someone I know.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." My voice cracks a little and I mentally curse at myself for even being nervous in the first place. Initially, I'm too caught up in my nerves to notice his expression. But once I do, it's easy to tell that he is royally pissed off. "Are you okay?"

His body relaxes at the sound of my voice and he seems to hesitate before speaking, and suddenly I know Scott had something to do with it.

"What did he do? Actually, don't tell me. I apologize for whatever it is he said or did or didn't do." I instinctively roll my eyes and Liam offers me a small chuckle.

"Are you busy? Like, right now." Liam says and I can't help but notice how overwhelmed he looks. "Well, there's this thing called class. Which we have together, actually. But other than that I'm free." He grabs my arm and pulls me into the nearest empty classroom. Making sure to close the door behind us, he leans against it and looks up at me; who by now has found a comfortable spot standing next to the lab table nearest the door.

"He broke my ankle. Scott. My stepfather said it was more than likely broken, but I ran home last night and it was fine." Liam's tone indicates that his words are more of a question than a statement, and I place my hand on his shoulder as I move towards him. His eyes leave mine and stay planted on my neatly manicured hand.

"Shouldn't you be happy about that? Now you won't be benched for the whole season." The way my voice wavers makes it clear that I know a lot more than I'm letting on and Liam takes note of that very quickly.

"The bite healed too? Didn't it?"

His eyes look up at me now and I can tell he wasn't expecting me to say anything regarding the bite. There's a long silence as Liam decides whether or not to answer my question. He lets out a deep breath and shakes his head in confusion before saying anything.

"When they tried to talk to me this morning, I swear all I wanted was for them to leave me alone. I didn't care about the healing. I even showed it off to them, as if maybe that would get them off my back or something." He takes a small breath before continuing. "But this? Talking to you about it? It's different. I can't seem to put my finger on it, but talking to you about anything it's just-" My lips involuntarily quirk up into a smile and I can see the blush creep onto Liam's cheeks as he tries to continue.

My body seems to react on its own and before I know it my arms are wrapped around his neck, and even though it takes him a moment to react his arms snake around my waist soon enough. The closeness does something for me. For the moment where we are wrapped up in each other, I almost forget. I forget the fact that him getting bit changes everything, and I forget that the bell rang several minutes ago, and that we're totally going to get in trouble for walking in late. I forget that this is exactly what Scott told me to stay away from. For the moment, all I know is that I saw him hold his breath as I leaned in and that I can feel his grip tighten on my waist as I breathe him in.

"I get it, and I'm totally here for you if you need anything. But it doesn't hurt to trust him. Scott's just trying to help." I pause as I notice Liam tense at the mention of Scott. I pull away and meet his gaze.

Everything seems to disappear and the only thing I'm aware of is how his touch seems to burn through the thin fabric of my t-shirt. Despite the tension, he still hasn't let go of my waist. But the moment doesn't last. I force myself to end it as a clear my throat and step away from his grip on my body.

"Come on. We have class." I extend my hand out to him and for a moment he doesn't move. He just stares at his shoes before he lets out a heavy sigh and takes my hand.

* * *

"I mean it was just a hug, right? Like, he was freaking out and I'm his friend so I comforted him? But it didn't feel like a regular friend hug. Not to me anyway."

A series of "awe's" and "OH's" filed the air in the space around us and I groan loudly and stomp off several feet ahead of them. "Look it doesn't matter anyways. I started talking about Scott and he tensed up and that whole moment was over."

Kira and Lydia watch me intently as I ramble on before Lydia speaks.

"Did it at least make your top three?" Lydia voices from beside me and Kira tips her head as I answer.

"Top three what, Lydia? It was a hug! And I'm probably the only one still thinking about it." I raise my hands in exasperation but neither of them pay my theatrics any attention. Instead Lydia stops walking and grabs me by my shoulders, shaking me lightly.

"Danielle McCall Delgado! He all but confessed his undying love for you. 'Talking to you about it? It's different.'" Lydia places her hands over her chest and pretends to swoon as Kira holds back a laugh beside her. "Next time go for the kiss, because that kid is defiantly still thinking about you."

Her last comment catches me off guard and I push her in an attempt to quiet her down.

"Are you insane? Scott has _super hearing_ for Christ's sake!" I motion over to where Scott stands between two buses with Malia and Stiles, waiting for us. "Not a word. Please?" Kira gives me a reassuring pat on the shoulder and Lydia just rolls her eyes and mumbles a "fine" as she walks off towards the rest of the pack.

* * *

"I'm not sharing my basement." Malia states as she crosses her arms across her chest. Lydia shakes her head and reminds her that technically it's not her basement and then she goes off to say something about how her mom knows how Malia tore it up "last time".

"We'll use the boat house for Liam. It has support beams that we can chain him to." Scott offers trying to calm Malia down.

"Why don't we just tell him there's a party and then invite him." Lydia suggests and naturally everyone tries to convince her to "seduce" him into coming to the party, but she refuses – not before giving me a sly smile – and we're back to square one.

"I'm done with teenage boys. Besides if we're going to play a trick on him then why don't we use the trickster?" Everyone follows Lydia's gaze to where it rests on Kira who is clearly not comfortable with the situation.

"You know what they call female foxes right?" Lydia answers the question for her in a voice like silkas Kira smiles awkwardly, retreating into herself somewhat. "Vixen"

I suddenly feel my body fill with some sort of rage and my heart starts to pound in my chest. Scott and Malia both look at me, obviously having sensed my chemo signals. Scott gives me a look but Malia isn't as subtle.

"What's wrong with you?" suddenly everyone's eyes are on me and I can feel the blood rush to my face. I ball up my hands into fists as I try to slow my heart rate, but it doesn't work.

"Is this about what happened yesterday at practice?" Malia tries her best to be discrete, but Stiles is instantly on my case and the natural urge to punch him intensifies. Malia doesn't help, especially not when she continues speaking.

"They both smelled the same, and she wouldn't stop lying about who he was showing off for." I look at Malia with a look that could kill but she just stands there like she's done nothing wrong.

"I told you he was looking at you and Kira."

Lydia looks over at me and a devilish smile consumes her. I start to protest but I already know the chances of me winning are very slim.

"No! Not in a million years. I know that smile, Martin. The answer is an overwhelmingly loud 'NO'."

* * *

"I mean imagine how unbelievable Kira would've been for him. Sure, he's hot, I'll give him that. But she's a junior and he's been a freshman here for all of two minutes. He wouldn't believe it. Not for a second" Lydia says as she grabs another chunk of hair from my head and curls it.

I'm sitting in front of Lydia's vanity table with her hands – and ten thousand clips – in my hair and the only thought that crosses my mind is that the past two hours of my life have been the worst two hours I've ever had to live through.

"And if you look at it my way, it's a chance to redeem yourself and maybe slip in a little alone time with him." I can see her wink at me through the mirror and I burry my head in my hands to keep from whimpering from both the pain of her hairdressing and the sucky situation I'm in.

* * *

 _I wait nervously at his locker. There's only a few seconds until the bell rings and then I can convince him to come to the party and walk away unscathed. The bell rings and I give Liam time to get to his locker, he could be on the other side of the building for all I know. But if I am being completely honest, I really don't want him to show up._

 _I become increasingly unsure of my plan as I see the hallways start to clear. It's practically empty now except for me and some last minute stragglers trying to get to class before the late bell rings. Luckily, I have a free period so I don't have to worry about that. But I do have to worry about what I'm going to say when he finally comes up to me._

 _Some more minutes pass and I decide that I have waited long enough. I am turning to leave when his voice makes me jump_

 _"Dani?" he sounds like he's in a crime drama. I'm the suicidal murderer and he's the main protagonist cop trying to talk me down from a ledge._

 _"Liam. Hi." My words seem to fail me and I mentally kick myself for being nervous. The nerves aren't even coming from the fact that I'm pretty much asking him out. They're more so due to the fact that I'm lying my ass off to try and convince him to show up to a fake party where he's going to end up in chains._

 _"I wanted to talk to you about this morning, but it looks like you've been avoiding me. Are you okay?" he asks as he takes a step toward me. I instinctively take a step back and am met by the cold metal of the locker behind me._

* * *

If it were up to me I would have been at home right now. I could be at home watching reruns of _The Walking Dead_ or _Arrow_ or freaking _Barney and Friends_ for all I care. But instead here I am, sitting on Lydia's satin bedspread as she furiously goes through her closet for the umpteenth time trying to find something that "suits me". She tires herself out after an hour or so and gives me free reign to find something I might like. I rummage through her closet for a moment before I pull out some simple ripped skinny jeans and a cropped knit sweater. Lydia sits on her bed with her face in a pillow as I move around her room assembling the pieces of my outfit.

I take off the robe Lydia lent me and start putting on the articles of clothing I picked out. When I'm done I cough lightly and Lydia gets up from her position on her bed. Silently she motions for me to turn and seems to approve after several spins.

She stands up just as my phone begins to ring from its place somewhere on the floor. Lydia points in the general direction of the phone and I have to play treasure hunt as she goes over to her closet to find a pair of shoes she thinks will suit the outfit.

I finally get to my phone and Kira's bright smile is on my screen indicating the incoming call from her. I pick it up and she starts talking almost immediately.

"I'm outside. Hurry down. We still have to pick up your _boyfriend._ " The way she says the word boyfriend makes me instinctively imagine Kira wiggling her eyebrows at me suggestively. I shake my head and smile as I give her a simple okay and hang up. Lydia walks up and hands me a pair of white stiletto heels. I give them a disagreeable face but put them on anyways.

"Now go get your man, Dani dearest." Lydia says sweetly as she pushes me out of her front door. It takes me a second to figure out how to walk in the heels since I'm not really the heel wearing type, but once I figure it out it's all smooth sailing.

* * *

 _"I-I'm not avoiding you, Liam." I move to grab his arm but think better of it. " I just had a busy day, you know? Econ test and… things."_

 _"Secret meeting with your brother and his spastic little friend? Its fine, Dani. I get it." His response isn't meant to come off as mean and it doesn't but the jab at the start still stings a little. He seems nothing but genuine and I can't help but mentally curse myself out for acting so stupid. Liam turns to leave and suddenly the whole plan turns into a now or never scenario._

 _"Fuck. Liam wait!"_

 _He turns around and faces me once again as my words lock themselves in my throat. "Look, this morning. I meant what I said. I know we haven't known each other very long, but you're my friend and I'm here if you need anything."_

 _Liam moves towards me as I keep talking, and I feel my breaths come and go a bit more harshly the closer he gets._

 _"There's a party. At Lydia Martin's lake house." There's only a few inches of space between us now and my breath catches but I keep talking anyway._ _"Everyone is going to be there and I guess it's kind of my really lame way of saying 'I'm sorry I let my brother bite and kidnap you, but I really like hanging out with you and I think it would be great if we could maybe do it some more'."_

 _He takes another step towards me and I extend my hand in front of me, because of the proximity my hand lies flat on his chest acting as the only barrier between my body and his._ _I can feel his heart beating under his blue long sleeve. It's pounding awfully fast – much like mine at this very moment – and I make a comment on it before I can stop myself._

 _"Your heart." He looks down at my hand where it still sits on his chest. "It's…um. It's beating really fast."_

 _Liam looks back up at me and without missing a beat he says "So is yours." There's a moment of silence before he backs up a little as if he's just woken up from a trance of some sort._

* * *

"Please tell me you brought them." I plead as I'm clicking in the seatbelt. Kira holds up a pair of plane white Chuck Taylors and I give out a loud sigh of relief before relaxing into my seat.

The drive over to Liam's house went well enough. The only major struggle being having to put on my shoes in such a confined space while simultaneously trying to give Kira directions to Liam's house. Once we had picked him up it was pretty much your regular boring car ride in the woods.

The full moon has me on edge to say the least. If the bite had turned Liam then this would be his first full moon and on top of everything he has absolutely no idea what is actually waiting for him at the lake house. The beautiful idiot is expecting pretty girls and free beer, but instead he's walking into a freak show.

We're nearing the lake house when Liam starts acting strange. He asks Kira if she can turn down the music even though it was very low to begin with. She gives me a worried look through the rearview mirror and I pretend not to notice. The closer we get the more restless I grow. Liam's breathing becomes very labored at one point and I give Kira's shoulder a light squeeze; more so to reassure myself than her. We finally pull up to the house, and he seems to calm down a bit, but he's naturally suspicious of the fact that there's only a couple of cars in the driveway. I reassure him slightly as we walk into the house, and it does the trick. That is, until he sees the rest of the party guests.

* * *

 _He looks around confused for a couple of seconds before facing me. He's back to himself and the blush creeps up his neck as he rubs the back of his head awkwardly._

 _"Yeah, I'll go." He avoids my gaze as he looks all around the hall trying to find something to concentrate on. A small smile finds its way onto my face and his expression seems to mirror mine for a split second before I speak._

 _"Kira's taking me so we'll pick you up around eight. Is that good?" we finally make eye contact again and he gives me a quick nod as I start walking away still looking at him. "Alright then. I'll see you later, Liam."_

* * *

"Werewolf." Liam points at Scott who gives him nothing but a quick nod of approval. "Werecoyote." He says as he moves on to Malia who just stands there next to Stiles and doesn't say or do anything. "Banshee." Lydia offers him a small smile and a wave of a finger before he moves on to Kira.

"Fox." I cough struggling to hold back a laugh and suddenly Stiles' elbow is being jabbed into my side. He gives me a pointed look as Kira explains the term _Kitsune_ to Liam who nods before finally turning in the direction of Stiles and me.

"What are you?" the question is directed at Stiles who gives a breath of hesitation before answering.

"For a little I was possessed by an evil spirit." Stiles pauses and looks to Liam who stand before him looking unimpressed "It was very evil." Stiles sounds almost unsure of himself and I can't help but cover my mouth as the giggle threatens to escape from my lips.

"And what are you now?" Liam asks sternly, still concentrated on Stiles.

"Better?" Stiles offers, and then it's my turn. Liam's gaze finally lands on me and his look softens, much like it did last night.

"And you?" he asks in his normal voice. There isn't a shred of annoyance or anger in his tone and I find that to be very comforting.

"Human. As far as I know anyway. No evil spirits, fangs, claws, tails or anything like that." Liam nods in understanding before asking about the chains on the coffee table. I can't help but feel like I am lying when I say I'm not anything. I haven't even spoken to Derek since his fifteen-year-old self sent my entire world into chaos.

These thoughts whirl around in my head for a moment as I notice the expression on Liam's face change.

"Great party you invited me to, Dani." My eyes widen as I feel his words hit me like they were actual daggers and shallow breathing is all I manage to get out before he turns away from me, the betrayal evident in his eyes.

He examines the chains on the coffee table in front of him and doesn't bother looking my way anymore.

"They're mine." I hear Malia say and I turn to her just in time to see her flash her omega blue eyes at Liam.

"How did you do that?" Liam demands as he moves farther away from the group.

"You'll learn how to do it too, but first you have to get through the full moon." Scott speaks up from across the room, but we can all tell that Liam isn't buying any of it. "Look you're already feeling the effects and you know it. There's a reason your ankle healed and the bite was gone after just a couple of hours."

Liam begins to resist – even though I can see the understanding his eyes – but suddenly his eyes go icy blue and he falls to the floor clutching the sides of his head. I rush to him trying to calm him down. He thrashes around, pushing me away from him. Him and every other were-something in the room look up and through the window, obviously hearing something us mere mortals never will.

"Did you tell anyone about this?" Scott asks Liam as lights begin to rush through the window from outside.

"You said it was a party! I told Mason." Liam manages to get out through labored breathing.

"And who did Mason tell?" Scott tries to get an answer out of him but he's in too much pain to speak at this point. Kira and I look at each other before both breathing out the same word.

"Everyone."

It's at this time that Liam loses whatever control he had on the wolf, because his nails shift to claws and he starts to scratch the floor. This sends Lydia into a frenzy as she yells at Scott to get him off the floors. Liam rises from his spot next to me on the floor and growls at Lydia, exposing his fangs to the rest of us. Kira and I start to rush him out of the room, but Scott grabs my arm before we can get very far.

"You have to stay here, Dani. It's his first full moon and we don't know how he's going to handle it." I start to protest but Malia's growling from the living room distracts me. Stiles flashes by yelling something about helping Lydia deal with the guests and I reluctantly let go of Liam's arm as I make my way back. The crowd is already flooding into the lake house and it doesn't help the uneasy feeling I've had in my stomach since the sun set.

I try to find Lydia somewhere in the crowd, but the only person I find is Mason. He's apparently looking for Liam, and when he asks me if I have seen him I lie through my teeth.

"I'm surprised. Isn't he supposed to be your date?" Mason's words catch me off guard and I clear my throat as I try to play off the disturbing sound that just came out of my mouth.

"He's not my date. I just asked him out… I mean not like "out" out. I just told him there was a party and that he should come." Mason's smirk only widens at my response and I instantly feel like a moron for having such a shitty filter.

"You guys are perfect for each other. Liam acted the same way when I asked him about it earlier." I can't help but smile at this and after several seconds of more of Mason's teasing, I excuse myself and make my way out of the house.

I know better than to try and go towards the boat house. Scott wouldn't let me in either way. So, I make a beeline for the woods. The night is chilly but not so much that it's annoying. For some time, the moon gives me just enough light to avoid tripping over twigs and stones, but the deeper I go into the trees the darker it becomes. The woods are much darker than I had expected.

The trees form a slight canopy and the once brilliant spotlight that was the full moon is diminished to small slivers of light every now and then from between branches and leaves. The night is quiet, and only the faint sound of whatever electronic mix they're playing at the party interrupts the stillness of the woods at this hour.

I close my eyes and breathe in deeply. The crisp air filling my lungs seems to ease my worrying a bit. I think back to some of Scott's full moons. Of course, at the time I had no idea what was actually happening, but even then, it was as if Scott was a completely different person and it wasn't even just his first full moon that made him that way.

I remember after Allison broke up with him the first time. How he acted towards Stiles that night even after he had purposefully made out with Lydia that very afternoon.

I can't help but wonder if that's what happens to everyone. Is Liam going to act out and become unrecognizable every time the moon is high? Are we going to spend countless nights driving around in Stiles' Jeep until the sun comes up looking for him?

The idea of Liam having to hide this from the people he cares about scares me. It's not fair. Not to him and not to any of us, but I guess that's the way life works. Sometimes things happen and we're not prepared to deal with them. So, we learn to adapt and hope for the best because it's all we can really do.

The sound of a branch snapping brings me out of my thoughts. I turn around immediately but even then, it's not fast enough. He slams into me before I even have the time to so much as scream. His breathing is ragged and I can feel his claws digging into the skin on my wrists. Amber eyes look down at me without even a hint of recognition, but the same cannot be said about the way I look at him.

"Liam, please." I struggle beneath him desperately trying to free myself from his grip. It's of no use seeing as he's wolfed out and has supernatural strength, but I press on regardless. His claws dig deeper into my wrists and I cry out in pain already feeling the blood seeping out from under his grasp. My eyes start to sting and I can feel the tears start to stream down the sides on my face. This seems to drag a reaction out of him because his grip loosens and he shakes his head as if conflicted. When he looks at me again his eyes are back to their normal shade of blue.

"Dani?" I look up into his eyes and nod my head furiously, but it gets cut short as Scott tackles Liam and pushes him off me. I prop myself up on my elbows and use the heels of my hands and feet to frantically make some distance between me and the two werewolves in front of me. Liam has somehow gotten the better of Scott and his him pinned up against a nearby tree.

"It's all your fault!" Liam screams into his face as Scotts tries to get out from under him. Suddenly a flash arrow hits the tree near their heads and Liam runs off, having been startled by the sudden flash of light. Scott rushes to me immediately looking me over to make sure my wounds aren't serious. From up on a slope we hear Argent explain his arrival with a simple:

"I got your text."

* * *

"There's a clearing a couple of yards from here. I've set up a trap. You just have to corral your friend there and the rest should be easy. He's your Beta so you have to deal with him." Argent's gaze doesn't leave Scott as he says this.

"He won't listen to me." I hear him offer but Argent simply brushes him off.

"He will. If you start using your own words."

Once we get to the clearing we find that it's a circle of Ultrasonic Emitters. Liam is on his knees in the center, no longer transformed but still clutching the sides of his head trying to drown out the sounds around him. Scott turns off the emitters and makes his way toward Liam.

"What's happening to me?" his voice sounds tired and almost scared. I'm taken aback by the state of the boy in front of me. He seems so different from the Liam I'm used to. This version of him is so unnaturally like him. This version is sad and defeated. The thought makes my heart ache for him.

"The same thing that happened to me." Scott offers and that's when I notice that Liam is crying.

"They can't see me like this, not again. The way they looked at me when I wrecked that car. Li-like I was a monster." I can feel the tears start to come on but for once I let them. It's only now that I realize just how unfair all of this is. Liam is only fifteen and out of nowhere he was thrust into this world of supernatural disasters.

 _It's not fair._

"You're not a monster, Liam." My voice cuts off his small sobs and I struggle to keep my voice straight. Scott looks up at me and nods. Liam looks up as well, noticing for the first time that he and Scott are not alone. His gaze drops to where my hands lay at my sides, wrists still bleeding. I put them behind me so he can't see them but it does little to reassure him.

"She's right. You're not a monster." Scott flashes his alpha red eyes at Liam and then continues. "You're a werewolf, like me."

 **Hi!**

 **okay so this chapter is kind of hefty and i had originally planned on packing this into smaller pieces but i obviously decided against it. anyways i hope you guys like this chapter. i feel like a lot of important stuff happened. as always thank you for reading and following and reviewing**

 **-V**


	4. Chapter 4

Waiting

The thing is, I probably wouldn't have bothered going into the locker room. Had it not been for Scott practically flying into it. Even then I still would have hesitated to go in. I know how much Scott hates it when I run after him and into potentially dangerous situations. But I had just seen Liam stalk into that very same locker room not a minute ago, to say he was looking pissed off and ready to maim and or possibly kill someone would be an understatement. I caught up with Scott almost immediately and he made sure to keep me behind him just in case things went south. And south they did go.

The first thing I notice is Derek, naturally. His dark figure looms over Liam even though they stand several feet apart. Derek is standing next to some lockers with a knowing smile plastered on his face. Liam stands in front of him with amber eyes and a deadly growl escaping his lips. He charges at Derek, but he is easily deflected and pinned against one of the metal lockers behind him. By his neck no less.

I stand there stunned for a few seconds. Scott motions for me to follow him. So, I make my way to his position beside the two people who have been pretty much screwing with my mind for the past couple of days. Scott starts to call Liam's name. But Liam is already fuming so his words fall upon deaf ears.

Watching Liam as he is right now only reminding me of one thing. Last night. On the forest floor, with his claws digging into the skin on my wrists. He could have easily mauled me to death in his wolf state. So, why didn't he? What had stopped him?

I look down at the white bandages now wrapped around them and proceed on nothing but a hunch. As quick as I can, I unwrap my bandages and slam my wrist onto the locker next to me. A pained cry escapes my lips and I can feel my eyes starting to sting right away. Black spots fill my vision and I kneel on the floor, clutching my now opened wound.

I sit on the dirty locker room floor for several seconds, panting and waiting for the pain to subside. I am not aware of the sickening silence that now fills the room. After about a minute or so I look up at the three werewolves before me. All of them share a concerned look and I know I'll never hear the end of it.

Scott is the first to react. He kneels beside me and grabs my arm. In an instant the pain is gone. I can see the black veins curling on Scott's arm and I mumble a simple apology that I know is not needed. Letting out a small laugh, I stand up using the lockers to my left for support.

Derek still has Liam against the lockers, but he's no longer thrashing. His eyes are the first thing back to normal. From their honeycomb shade and back to their original electric blue. As soon as they are back to this color they are set on mine. The same look of recognition and concern I received last night still prominent in them. Then his fangs start to retract along with his claws. Derek lets him go and Liam's look softens further as he looks down at my blood drenched hand.

Even with Scott having taken away most of the pain, my head still spins a little and I take a seat on one of the benches near me. Scott is hesitant to leave me but after he hears me tell him I'm okay, he walks over to Derek and Liam. They exchange a couple of words, but soon the bell rings. Scott's gaze doesn't leave Liam for a second.

"Get to class." Liam obediently walks out immediately and Derek and I can't help but smile at each other. "What are you smiling about?" Scott asks, looking at us as if we've gone insane.

After several seconds holding in my laughter, Derek says, "You're going to be good at this."

My laughter fills the locker room but the second I catch Scott's glare, my laughter ceases to exist. Scott shakes his head and disagrees with Derek, but we both know it's the truth. Scott didn't become a true alpha by being a shitty leader. Even if he doesn't see it, he's doing a good job.

Derek and Scott continue talking and I disappear into my thoughts. If there was ever a better time to ask it would be now. I open my mouth several times only to close it almost immediately. My breath seems to catch in my throat and soon enough I can feel my heart start to speed up.

"No. You're not supernatural." Derek's voice rings through my head and I look up at him.

"But you said..." my throat starts to close up and I struggle to form a cohesive statement. "You said I was something. Y-he could smell it on me."

"Experienced werewolves can mask their scent. Experienced _alphas_ can mask the scent of their pack members." Derek pauses for a second and moves closer to me. "My mother used to do it with the kids in the house who weren't wolves. It's supposed to keep you safe from enemy packs."

Derek is about to continue but he gets cut off by someone I had forgotten was with us. Scott's voice is somewhere between worried and beyond confused.

"What the hell is he talking about, Dani?" I clear my throat and wait for Derek too answer for me. He doesn't and I let out a deep breath before I start

"The day Baby Derek was at our house he said something weird to me. I've been trying to figure it out ever since, but nothing panned out. He kept asking me what I was and I didn't get it. As far as I knew I was the only one who hadn't gone through some sort of supernatural change. But he was persistent, he said he could smell it on me and that I wasn't a werewolf but that I had to be something."

"I didn't know about it at the time. That's why I kept pushing. I knew you didn't have a human scent, but I wanted to know what kind you did have." Derek interjects as if it's the most logical thing.

Scott switches between glaring at me or Derek for several seconds before I make my excuse to leave. He's hesitant to let me leave, but after a promise to pick things back up at home he finally gives me a curt nod. I offer Derek a small wave and give Scott a quick hug before making my exit.

* * *

He's standing in the middle of the field holding his long stick when I finally find him. Tracking down Liam Dunbar has got to be just about the hardest thing to do in the history of the world. As I get closer I realize that he must have heard me the second I stepped onto the field. When Liam speaks up from in front of me I realize that must have been the case.

"Not now, Danielle." His voice sounds calm, but his tone indicates otherwise. The fact that he called me Danielle doesn't help me feel any better. I actually flinched when I heard him say it.

I know he is still mad about last night and I don't blame him. In some ways, he was right about my deception. I did lie to him so that he would agree to go to the lake house. But even so, I can't stand to think that he believes I didn't mean a word of what I said to him yesterday.

His back remains turned to me and I take a step towards him as I speak. "You heard me when my shoes touched this grass. That's progress."

"Actually, I heard you when you opened the door to leave the building." Liam whispers, and I can see the grip on his long stick tighten to the point where his knuckles turn white. I continue to move closer to Liam and once I am right behind him I place my hand on his shoulder and make him face me.

"Sit with me. Please?" I don't give him much of a choice. Once the words leave my mouth, my hands are in his. I pull him down into a sitting position opposite me on the grass. As soon as we're both comfortable he let's go of my hands and places his gaze on the grass at his side. Where he rips blades of grass from the ground as he continues to speak.

"I also heard you laughing at something that guy said and…" he lifts his head up slightly when he says this. But still doesn't dare to look me in the eye. "You don't wear perfume, but you have a scent specific to you. Kind of like Scott's but different somehow". I chew the inside of my mouth and nod as I roll my eyes. His lips curl into a small smile before he goes back to splitting grass from its root in the soil.

"You okay? I mean, your bandages and all." Liam's voice is hardly audible at this point and I can tell he is avoiding my eyes. It's comforting to know that even though he's pissed off at me, he still cares about how I am doing.

I look down at the white bandages haphazardly wrapped around one my wrists in the spots where his claws dug in. I start to unravel them and that is when he finally looks up at me again.

"Want to know a secret?" I ask as I place the bandages on my lap and move my wrists away from his line of vision. "My mom's a nurse." I place my arms in the space between us and give him a full view of the area the bandages were covering earlier. My tan skin is still somewhat split, but now with the blood cleaned off it is easy to tell that the injury wasn't that bad. Liam grabs my arms and looks at them for a few seconds before he speaks.

"Last night…" he trails off and I can tell that he feels guilty even though he shouldn't. I bring up one hand and lift his chin up before setting it back down in his.

"It's not your fault." My voice is barely above a whisper. "None of it was your fault, Liam." His lips curl up into the smallest of smiles and he scoffs at my efforts to reassure him.

"And…I'm sorry about it too." His hand tenses up in mine and Liam is back to avoiding my eyes. "I should have just told you the truth about the party."

I remove my hands from his and start picking at my nail polish as I wait for him to say something. Anything. It takes a while but after what feels like an eternity of silence, he finally looks up at me again and speaks.

"And the morning? That was part of the scheme too?" he's hurting and it isn't hard to tell. I don't blame him of course. He thought that he had someone to trust with everything going on. Someone who knew more than him and was willing to help, but after last night he's convinced that everything I have ever done was only to drag him into that lake house.

"No. I told you by your locker that I meant it and I did. The lab was way before we had our little pack meeting. That was all me." my eyelids seem to droop and I can't help but think how tired this conversation makes me. Why can't things just be right again?

"The way you looked…all lost and scared half to death about what was happening. The way you looked at me and the way you spoke about how you could talk to me..." I pause at a loss for words. "I meant what I said, Liam." I lean down to give his hand a gentle squeeze to reassure him some more and then turn my head as if something caught my eye.

"Why did you hurt yourself? In the locker room just now. You didn't have to do that." His question makes me smile and I let out a small laugh and turn my head to look at him again.

"I guess that was a little extra, huh?" I shake my head a bit, trying to find my words. "I don't know. I guess I just thought that if hurting me was what brought you back last night, then it could do it again. Even if I was the one doing the hurting."

A bus pulling into the school's lot catches Liam's eye. I've barely turned around completely when Liam lifts me up and starts pulling me out of the field. We're off the field in seconds and by the way he's walking through the building I can tell this won't be good. Mason must have agreed because when we pass him in the hall he only teases us for a second before running after us.

Liam walks out to where the Devenfort Prep buses have just pulled in to the school and calls out the name "Brett". A blond boy just stepping out of the bus walks over to him immediately and Liam lets go of my hand. The boy is much taller than Liam but this doesn't seem to discourage him in the slightest. I cover my eyes expecting the worst. But after several seconds of an intense staring contest Liam extends his hand to Brett.

"Have a good game." Liam's voice sounds genuine and my breathing goes back to normal. That is until Brett decides to be an asshole. He laughs along with the rest of the boys from the bus before actually bothering to respond.

"That's cute, Liam. Is that what they told you to say in anger management? Apologize and everything's fine."

Mason let's out a small whimper from beside me and I take a step towards Liam.

"You demolished coach's car." Brett continues and I can see Liam's body tense up as he speaks through gritted teeth.

"I paid for it." Liam says through gritted teeth and I can tell it's taking a lot of self-control to tear this guy a new one.

"Yeah, you're gonna pay for it. We're gonna break you in half out there and it's going to be All. Your. Fault."

I move closer to Liam noticing that blood is seeping from his now balled up fist. Once I am close enough I intertwine our fingers; both in an attempt to hide the blood and hopefully calm him down. Scott and Stiles burst through the crowd seconds later. I help Scott drag Liam away from the crowd as Stiles stays behind for a few seconds. Unsuccessful in his attempt at trying to and ease some of the other team's tension. Brett ignores Stiles invitation to shake hands. Stiles takes this moment to run after Scott, Liam and I.

The three of us drag Liam across campus and into the locker rooms. Liam kicks and screams as Scott and Stiles push him under the running water of one of the showers. After a while he calms down and sits up against the tile walls of the shower room. His shirt sticks to his skin now and his breathing is still ragged from having exerted himself in his wolf out.

"I got kicked out of school. They sent me to a psychiatrist for an evaluation." Liam huffs out still trying to slow his breathing. Scott looks at Stiles and I for a second before turning back to look at Liam and saying, "What do they call it?"

"Intermittent explosive disorder"

"IED? You're literally an IED that's great." Stiles voice sounds off from beside me and I shoot him a warning glare, which he ignores. "That's great, you gave superpowers to a walking time bomb." Scott ignores Stiles rambling and continues with Liam.

"Did they give you anything for it?" Liam's eyes immediately look up to meet mine and he sighs before answering.

"Risperdal. It's an anti-psychotic" his tone sounds almost ashamed and I can't help but move closer to him. "But I don't take it." Liam continues.

Stiles claps his hands in the air at Liam's last remark and lets out an ill-mannered "obviously". This earns him a curt look from Liam and an elbow to the ribs from me.

"I can't play lacrosse on it. It makes me too tired." Scott looks over at me for a second and I nod as we make a silent agreement between ourselves. Liam can't play tonight, especially not with Brett and all his buddies on the field.

"Okay, I think you should bail out of the game. Tell Coach your leg's still hurting." Scott offers and Liam gets up immediately as a series of no's start flying out of his mouth.

"I can do this, especially if you're there." He directs his statement at Scott but his eyes don't leave mine for more than a half second as he says it. A sad smile pulls at Scott's lips and he looks at me for a moment.

"It's not just about the game. We think that whoever killed DeMarco might be on our team."

This causes Liam to stop looking at me as he focuses his attention on Scott. "Who's DeMarco?"

Thinking we have had enough of his comments for today, I pipe up almost the second after I see Stiles open his mouth. "He's the guy who brought the beer to Lydia's party. The one they found beheaded on the street." My eyes leave Liam for a second as I asses what Scott might have just implied.

"You think whoever order the keg, killed him?" Scott and Stiles just give me a quick nod before turning back to a now lost in thought Liam. Scott speaks before I can.

"What? Do you know something?"

"I don't know who ordered the keg, but I know who paid for it." Liam does that thing where his voice is only just above a whisper. But we all hear him loud and clear when Garret's name comes tumbling out of his mouth.

* * *

"What do think you're doing?" he has a knowing smile on his face and I can see Mason isn't paying all that much attention to what Liam is saying. He's staring at a shirtless Brett from across the field.

"What? Me? Agreeing with you. I'm being agreeable." I shake my head from my spot beside Liam as Mason tries to play it off. "You think he's hot don't you?" Liam's voice sounds somewhat annoyed and I can't help but laugh a little. Mason tries to explain himself, but I butt in.

"Um…yeah. No offense Liam. But the whole 'arch nemesis' thing doesn't change the fact that he's in our top ten." My voice doesn't falter as I give Liam my honest answer. Mason looks over at me as if I've lost my mind and bite my bottom lip trying to keep from laughing.

"What so you're saying he's hotter than me?" His voice seems angry for a second and my laughter fills the air around us. I bring a wide-eyed Mason and a reluctant Liam into a hug as I glare at Brett. He is still getting ready across the field. I look for a good minute before I turn to Liam who is going on about how Brett wants to destroy him.

"I don't know, Li. It's almost to close call. But don't worry, you can take him. " Liam's face turns red as his smile widens and I roll my eyes at Mason playfully as I let go of them.

"…and then give him. To me." Liam's eyes widen as he looks at his best friend, who is now back to watching Brett. "Nah, just go out there and kick their smug prep school asses, man." Mason adds and he and Liam fist bump as Liam puts on his helmet.

"Yay for friendship!" I scream as I pull them into yet another hug making sure to show Liam the shirt I am currently wearing.

"Oh, look my spare jersey. You found it. How kind of you." The sarcasm is pretty obvious but I ignore it and continue smiling proudly even as he says, "Now give it back." Liam's voice sounds annoyed but only just and I giggle as he holds onto my waist tighter. Mason manages to get out of our group hug and just stands there laughing as Liam continues to harass me.

"I would, but it's kind of chilly tonight and I don't fancy being in nothing but a bra for the next couple of hours." The bra thing does the trick because Liam's body tenses up a little and he puts me down right after I say it. I look over to Mason and wink as he shakes his head at my antics.

"Patiently waiting for you two idiots to admit you love each other already." I shake my head and punch Mason's arm at this. But all he does is wiggle his eyebrows suggestively at me.

Liam clumsily clears his throat beside us and we turn to him. Our eyes watering from both the cold air and all the laughing. His intense glare is planted on me. Even though I know he's playing I still move over to him in an attempt to apologize.

"You can't be mad, Liam. I'm supporting you and look how cute I look wearing it." I spin in a slow circle trying show off the big bold number nine on my back of the maroon colored jersey. Then, I finish off by wrapping my arms around his neck and giving him a tight hug. He's a bit taller than me so I have to tiptoe to reach him in the right way. He places his hands on my waist again and hugs back with equal intensity.

The cold air around me disappears as I am wrapped in his warmth. I don't know if it's a werewolf thing, but Scott and Derek are always so warm. They're like freaking radiators and I love it. After several lovely seconds of being warmed by him I pull back a little and look him in the eyes.

"Good luck." My voice is almost a whisper but with his super hearing and the lack of personal space between us I know he heard me. Mason clears his throat from behind us. Like a father who just caught his kids doing something wrong and I feel the blood rush to my face. I stutter for a second before directing a small apology to Mason as I let my arms drop.

Mason and I both give Liam a small wave as we make our way up the bleachers and into our seats. We sit there quietly watching the setup for about a minute before Mason speaks.

"Okay, so when do I get my wedding invitation?" I roll my eyes at his statement immediately and he gives me a small push as he eggs on for some answers. "Come on, Danielita. I may have only just met you this year, but you're an open book, and this chapter seems to be missing a few pages in my copy."

I let out a breath before looking over at him, annoyance evident in my expression. This, does little to discourage him, and after about six minutes of hounding me I finally fill him in, careful to leave out the part about the supernatural. All in all the story I feed Mason goes something along the lines of me finding Liam at the party after speaking with Mason and us going for a walk in the woods. I even seeped in a little bit about our heart to heart in the field during free period today. A detail that made Mason practically squeal with excitement, and that seems to satiate his hunger for details. For now anyway.

The next half hour of the game is filled with Devenfort Prep making quick and easy goals. Kira gets pulled out of the game at some point, and Mason spends all this time rambling on about how it's ridiculous that "you guys are making this such an unnecessary slow burn".

* * *

I should've known. The way she ran off into the parking lot. She didn't even bother changing out of her lacrosse uniform. I should've known something was wrong. The red and blue flashes told me something was wrong. The whispers and looks told me something too. But I never listen.

Everyone trains their eyes on me as I frantically make my way through the crowd. They split a path down the middle almost immediately. As if they're afraid of breaking me with a single breath. Every glance makes me feel sick and my breathing seems to stop every time I hear their names. Even just snippets of whatever they're saying make my heart race and my blood boil.

I see her first. She has handcuffs around her wrists and when she looks up with that sneer on her face I know it's for me. Her eyed lock on mine and I feel the anger build up in my chest as I make my way to her.

"Where is he?" the Sheriff's newest deputy, Jordan Parrish, my tone takes him back a bit. But Violet just stands there with the same expression she had before I approached her. "I swear to god, you crazy bitch, if you hurt him…" my argument is cut off as she spits in my face and that's when I lose it.

My fist hits her square in the jaw and if it weren't for all the adrenaline coursing through my veins I would be on the floor from how much my knuckles hurt. The blow knocks her down and several officers start making their way to me. I ignore their warnings as I pick her back up by her hair. I have no idea where all this is coming from. But I do know that she is the reason I don't know where Scott is and that's enough to make me hate her.

"What did you do to him?" she's still a little disoriented and I am pretty sure my words aren't registering at all. Despite knowing this, I continue asking her nonetheless. The same question flies out of my mouth as I shake her shoulders. At this point I'm faintly aware of someone calling my name. The voice is familiar but the pounding in my ears doesn't let me pinpoint exactly who it belongs to. I have three deputies trying to pry my hands off of Violet's shoulders as she sits, still pushed up against a nearby wall.

I'm not exactly sure when I started crying. But the hot tears are now rolling down my cheeks and leaving small stains on Liam's jersey. It feels like I have been questioning Violet for an eternity. But I know that it has not even been a full minute between me hitting her and whatever it is I'm doing right now.

After several seconds of struggling, someone manages to remove my hands from Violet's body. I flail around in their arms trying to break free. It's only then that I notice how quiet the hallway is now. When I walked in there were voices all around me. The air was polluted with conversations that I didn't quite understand. The person who pried my hands away from Violet pulls me into a hug. For the second time tonight I am wrapped in the same abnormal warmth I have come to know all too well.

Scott

The adrenaline rush subsides and a sense of incredible fatigue fills my being. I wrap my arms around his lower back and squeeze as I try to muffle my sobs into his shirt. He rubs my back softly and after several seconds I let go. Making sure to wipe the tears from my eyes as I look up at him.

Aside from the concerned look on his face he looks fine. A wave of relief rushes over me as I dig my face into his now tear stained shirt.

"You… You didn't answer your phone. I called and you wouldn't answer and I couldn't find Stiles an-"

Scott leans down so that we are face to face and says, "It's okay. I know, and I'm sorry."

"…and no one would tell me what happened and you didn't'…you wouldn't pick up the phone, Scott. You always pick up." my constant panting makes it difficult to speak. But I continue rambling, even after Scott apologizes and tells me he's okay several times.

A firm hand is placed on my shoulder and I compose myself ready to face my dad who has just seen his "little girl" go ape shit on one of her classmates. He doesn't say anything. All he does is check my hand and tell me to find an EMT. I nod and walk away silently, holding my bruised hand to my chest.

From my spot on the stairs I can see Scott and my father talking in hushed voices. After a brief conversation, I see him walk away and over to where Violet now stands. Scott looks over at me and I hold up my now bandaged hand and give him a small smile. He walks up and sits next to me on the steps, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"That was pretty bad ass, D. I mean I never thought you were the confrontational type." Scott says from beside me and I can't help but laugh at how stupid his comment is.

"Well. That's probably because I'm not the confrontational type. But sometimes my loser older brother goes out and tries to get himself killed and you know someone has to be there to avenge his death." We sit in a comfortable silence for a bit before someone walks up to us.

Liam.

He looks over at me and his eyes widen a bit as he sees my bandaged hand, but he makes no effort to start a conversation with me. I can instantly feel my chest heat up as the blood rushes to my cheeks. I don't bother trying to cover anything up. Both he and Scott most likely already heard my heart speed up.

Liam and Scott talk while I tune them out and play with the bandage on my hand.

 _If you keep this up you're going to end up looking like the Nogitsune, girl._

This thought makes me smile for some reason and I shake my head trying to leave my thoughts. Liam's voice brings me back somewhat. He's worried about being on the third part of _The List_. I choose this time to start participating in the conversation.

"List? What list?" my voice is a little hoarse from the yelling but I know they heard me even though neither of them makes a move to answer my question. "Guys, what list?"

Scott is the first to speak as he takes a seat on the steps next to me again. "Remember how Malia couldn't understand Lydia's notes?" he waits for me to nod before continuing. "Well it turns out it was because it was some sort of Banshee computer code that needed to be cracked to reveal some sort of bounty list."

I furrow my brows, not completely grasping the situation. "You mean someone is paying other people to kill supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills?" I pause for a second as my brain finally seems to process the information I've just received. "So, Demarco, and that kid from the hospital… his family?" I look up at Scott hoping he'll deny my realization, but his face only reassures me more of my deduction.

"Who's on it? Are you on it?" I look expectantly at Scott but all does is nod. "How much?"

"25"

His answer confuses me even more. "25 dollars? For a true alpha werewolf who bested the alpha pack?"

Scott stops me before I can continue.

"No, Dani. 25 million."

"And you've chosen now to tell me this? And you're on it now too?" I look over at Liam who just stands awkwardly and scratches the back if his neck. "Where the hell are they even getting the money to pay for all these mur- the bearer bonds. Scott they have to be using the bonds from the Hale vault!" Scott just nods and offers a quiet "I know".

I nod my head and for the first time tonight I quiet down.

 _As if we didn't have enough to deal with._

* * *

Despite the immense bomb that was dropped on me last night, I find my head preoccupied with other seemingly less important thoughts the morning after.

I'm chalking it all up to shock because I honestly can't think of anything else that would keep me focused on such a mundane issue with everything that's going on.

However, I let my brain wander and over asses my teenage dilemmas about how I seem to suck at all the wrong things. I mean, I have no trouble with the supernatural. Even though my knowledge is limited, I think I do a pretty good job in the whole "staying alive" department.

I'm also pretty good with school. Most of my core classes are one or two grade levels higher than regular freshman classes. My GPA has stayed at a pretty solid 3.8 ever since I started taking high school classes back in middle school and I think it's pretty safe to say that most of my teachers can stand me.

All of these are very good things in my opinion. I mean, having all this crazy witchy woo going on around you and still managing not to suck at your only actual job right now is pretty fucking great. Ready for the kicker?

I _never_ used to have a problem with boys. That's not to say that I was some sort of freaking dominatrix back in middle school, because that was definitely _not_ the case. But at least I could deal with them. I mean, it wasn't like I had a bunch of prepubescent boys constantly at my heels, but I guess I had a boyfriend at one point. Then again maybe not.

I was like twelve to fourteen years old, and while the rest of the girls were discovering mascara and all the different ways to get someone of the opposite sex to pay attention to them I was helping Stiles read through thick volumes of "Supernatural Creatures and Their Many Forms". If I wasn't doing that, I was either at home reading or out with Allison running or learning how to use a bow and if I wasn't doing that I was probably out somewhere with Scott and Stiles, riding in a blue jeep and eating curly fries.

So, I guess I skipped out on a few classes on how to handle teenage boys, but even then, the first half of this school year had been pretty good as far as I could tell. A couple of boys in different grade levels had asked me to the movies or to lunch, most of them just used the "study date" excuse though, and I had handled that well enough. I never said yes to coffee dates and movie outings, but if someone asked me to help them study for a test, I would. It wasn't like anything was going to happen. I always invited them over after school and if they didn't have a car we would have Stiles drop us off. So right off the bat they had some hyperactive spaz giving them the evil eye the entire ride.

If that wasn't enough to let them know that making a move was not a good idea, I would sit them at the dining room table once we got home. This was my way of expressing that this was a purely educational experience, and if that didn't register to the guy I was with then I always had Scott – the werewolf – or my dad – the cop – as backup. One had a gun and the other had supernatural abilities. Needless to say if, any of them tried to get frisky they wouldn't get very far, and that was the way I liked it. I didn't have time for teenage boys with trash grades and zero respect for women. Everything was perfect.

Then Liam showed up and he seemed like the type of person you would actually enjoy spending time with. He never said anything out of line and he understood my humor, and he was smart too. Not just the book smart type either, he knew things I had never even known were things that needed to be known.

Within the first week I had known him he had shown all these different sides of himself to me and I couldn't figure out why I liked being around him so much or why I wanted to make sure he was always _okay._ It was like this instant connection with the guy and it only got stronger. Especially after Scott bit him.

"You like him don't you?" Scott's voice brings me out of my thoughts and I look up from my spot on the floor to find him standing over me.

Last night had really done a number on me. With Scott having an attempt on his life, me freaking out and attacking Violet and the little bit of news I received after; I had gotten home and practically knocked out on the nearest cushioned surface. In this case, one of the bean bags in Scott's room.

"You let me sleep on the floor? Classy." I say not even bothering to acknowledge his question.

I notice now how fast my heart is beating and I bring my knees to my chest in an attempt to hide it. Scott is still looking at me and when I avoid his question, he takes a seat next to me and sighs. I rest my head on his shoulder and we sit in a comfortable silence for a while.

"Stiles is going to flip. You know that right?" my lips involuntarily quirk up into a small smile at his comment.

"I'll buy him some large curly fries and watch all the Star Wars movies with him and he'll get over it." I say in a quiet voice. It is only now that I notice how hoarse my voice still is from screaming at Violet and I clear my throat harshly, trying to fix it. "Am I dumb for it? Like of all the people to have a crush on I pick your beta."

"I'm pretty sure he was your crush before I turned him. So, what you should really be asking is 'Of all the people you could've turned, it just had to be the guy I'm madly in love with?' in which case the answer would be 'Yes, it had to be him.'" I groan loudly and earn a pat on the back from Scott.

"I'm not in love with him. I'm fifteen. It's a stupid crush and I'll get it." I look up and the look on Scott's face tells me he doesn't believe a word of what I just said, but I glare and shove his face away before getting up to get ready for school.

 _Ah yes, school is still a thing._

"I was actually thinking I could _not_ go to school today. I mean, I've been through a lot in the past couple of days and I think maybe I deserve a break. Don't you think? " Scott's glare gives me my answer and I grab his hands to steady myself on my way up.

I look down and suddenly see that I am still wearing the same clothes from last night. Which means I'm still wearing Liam's jersey. I walk into Scott and I's connected bathroom and into my room, not bothering to take a shower. I take off my clothes and change into new ones before throwing Scott the jersey and asking him to throw it in the washer.

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure Liam wouldn't mind if it still smelled like you." Scott jokes from his room and I fake a laugh before I glare at him and make my way downstairs.

* * *

The now clean maroon jersey is wrapped around my arm as it has been for the last two periods. Both of which were completely void of Liam. At one point Coach asks me if I know where he is and when I tell him I don't know says, "He's your boyfriend. Shouldn't you know where he is all the time?" my cheeks instantly turn crimson and I reply through gritted teeth.

"Liam's not my boyfriend." Apparently, Coach senses my discomfort and doesn't pursue the issue further. After class I find Scott and Mason both looking equally concerned. When I walk up to them they both ask me about Liam.

"I haven't seen him. That's why I walked over here; I figured Mason would have better luck at getting his jersey back to him." This doesn't seem to calm their worrying and we barely have time to speculate before the bell rings.

"You guys just get to class and let me know if he answers any of your texts." Scott tells Mason and I, and we nod as we walk off to our class.

"I don't even know why you guys are worrying so much. He's probably just sick like the other sixty percent of the population of Beacon Hills." My tone makes it obvious that I am not concerned about Liam in the slightest and Mason picks up on this quickly.

"Last night you were telling me all about how cozy you got at the party and now you couldn't care less about him? And he didn't look sick on our run this morning. Jumpier than usual maybe, but not sick." I roll my eyes as I take a seat next to him. We're doing a lab in bio so at least we'll get to talk.

"Okay, first of all we were not 'cozy', and it's not that I don't care. I just don't think that one little absence from school should be cause for alarm, but if you say he was fine this morning then maybe I might be a little worried now." I clear my throat and pull out my phone to shoot Liam a text before continuing my conversation with Mason. "And if you don't mind I would really appreciate it if you stopped bringing that up. I mean, you hang out with a guy _once_ and then never hear the end of it. Its not that big of a deal. We hung out, we talked. It was fun, but that's it." I get up and make my way to where all the beakers are as Mason follows dictating how many of each size we need as he reads from the lab sheet.

"Excuse you. It is a big deal when you're both madly in love with each other and neither one of you will admit it." Mason exclaims from his hovering position over my shoulder.

"Why was he jumpy? Did he say anything about it? Maybe that can help you guys find him." I easily deflect his statement and he shoots me a glare, clearly not happy with the fact that I am avoiding the subject.

"Why do you think? He couldn't stop thinking about it. He finally told me about it and now I wish he hadn't." My stomach ties itself into a knot and I start blushing uncontrollably. But a slight panic sets over me when I realize that I didn't exactly share the made up story with Liam and he might have said something that doesn't exactly fit with what I told Mason.

I grab the last of the beakers and make my way back to our table before saying, "Why? What did he say?" Mason looks at me in pure disbelief and I place my head in my hands as I silently curse myself out for messing up the lab set up again.

"Are you kidding me? You can't seriously be _that_ oblivious about how totally in love with you Liam is." The last sentence makes me whirl my head around to face Mason who is staring at me wide eyed. "He kept asking me if you had said anything about it and at one point he got so sappy I was ready to strangle him, but he ran off and left me alone on the trail. I couldn't find him afterwards so I figured he just made his way to school."

Mason's words fly around in my head as I try to understand what he's saying. There's a long silence between us before I speak again. "Well, I'm sure he'll turn up. We shouldn't worry so much; it's like I said before. He's probably just sick." That seems to end the conversation for us and we work quietly until the bells rings.

The rest of the day goes on without as much as a smoke signal from Liam. When the final bell rings Mason and I agree to call each other the second either of us gets anything on Liam. It isn't until later in the evening that I get news from anyone and it isn't even good news.

* * *

I can feel the damp earth under the soles of my shoes. By now the once bright and clean pair of running shoes are covered in dirt and whatever else may be lying on the forest floor.

The second Chris Argent called me and said Scott had gotten hurt I knew exactly where to go. No one was home but me so all I did was put on my running shoes and lock the door before breaking into a sprint and making my way to Deaton's clinic. By the time I get there I am practically drenched in sweat and my hair is a mess of flyways. I pull the front door open and dash in immediately.

"Scott!" my breathing is still ragged from the running and even just saying his name makes my vision a blurred mess. No one answers and I make my way into the back of the clinic where Scott is laid on the table unconscious and with some sort of horn coming out of his stomach. Deaton and Argent are on either side of him and they both give me worried glances once I come through the door way.

"Did you run all the way here? Please tell me you did not run all the way here." Argent almost makes the last sentence sound like a plead and I can't help but smile at how concerned he seems. I move to answer but get interrupted by Scott's groans as he comes back into consciousness. Argent makes a comment about how much it will hurt to get the _antler_ out of Scott and then immediately goes to take it out. Scott lunges to his feet, seemingly from the pain and instantly starts asking about our dad and the sheriff.

"What do you mean? What happened to them? What happened to _you_ , Scott?" all three of the men in front of me seem to hesitate before Scott speaks.

"They were moving Violet from the station and into higher security tonight. Garrett called me through Liam's phone and told me to meet him. When we talked he said that if I didn't help him get Violet back that…" Scott trails off for a second and I know what he was going to say.

"He would kill Liam." The lump in my throat makes it hard to continue but I somehow manage it. "Okay, but what does that have to do with dad and the sheriff?"

Argent walks over to me and places his hand on my shoulder. "They were in the truck and there was an accident." My eyes instantly start to sting and I sniffle in an attempt to hold back the tears that are threatening to leave my eyes.

"It was Kate. She's controlling the Berserkers and she caused the truck to crash. Sh-she also took Violet." Scott adds and I can instantly feel my blood start to boil.

"Kate. She's dead. Peter killed her. He scratched her freaking throat out with his claws, and she's back and turning Dereks into babies and screwing everything else up too." I cover my face with my hands before continuing. "You said they were in the hospital. That means they're alive, right? Both of them are okay. Right?" Scott gives me a small nod and I can feel as one single tear rolls down my cheek.

"What about Garrett? If he threatened to kill Liam, then that means he knows where he is. So, where is he? Why isn't he here with you?" my constant sniffling makes it almost impossible to get my words across. Not that it mattered, because I know Scott understood me when he looks down at the floor almost in shame.

"One of Kate's berserkers killed him before he could tell me. That's why we need to find Kate. She has Violet and if Garrett knew where Liam was then chances are Violet did too." Scott doesn't sound very hopeful but I nod my head to show that I understand.

"Okay, so let's go then. Let's go find Kate." Scott looks up at me immediately and I can tell I said the wrong thing. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa. There is no 'let's go find Kate'. You're not going, Dani." I clench my jaw at my brother's protective nature.

"You said Kate has Violet. If there's a chance in hell that Violet might know where Liam is, then I'm going. I will wait in the freaking car if I have to, but you are not leaving me here while you and Chris go play vigilante."

* * *

 _Terms of Agreement_

 _Danielle McCall Delgado will not leave this vehicle for any reason._

 _Should Danielle hear any sort of noise come from the building, she will make sure the doors are locked._

 _Once all doors have been accounted for, she will hide in the back and wait for Scott or Chris to return._

If Scott could've had it carved in stone it would have been done. It had taken a lot of arguing to secure myself a spot in this rescue mission from hell and I wasn't about to put that in jeopardy by breaking one of his silly little commandments.

The second we had gotten to Argent's Arms International Scott had warned me about leaving the car for any reason at all. This black SUV was my home for however long it took to find Violet and deal with Kate. If I heard anything crazy coming from the building, I was not only forbidden from going inside to see what the hell was going on; I was also supposed to make sure that all of the doors were locked and then immediately cower in the darkest corner of the car.

I wasn't complaining. I knew Scott only did it to make sure I was safe, but staying in the car – even though I could clearly hear gunshots coming from inside – and not being able to help made me miserable. Here was everyone else risking their lives for something. For a cause, their friends, their family, and I was left to wait in the goddamned car.

That wasn't even the worst part, believe it or not. The worst part happened when all the fighting had subsided. After they found Violet's lifeless body strapped to a random chair in the middle of the warehouse and after Kate managed to get away. Scott practically flew out of the building without as much as a glance in my direction. That's when I jumped out of the car. I tried to chase after him, but no matter how fast I was there was no way I was going to catch up to him. Kicking the ground beneath me I hop back into the car and Argent floors it. I have no idea where we're going, or if we're even following Scott but I let him drive and I don't speak a word.

When we finally do arrive at our mystery destination, i find that Liam is in the same position that Scott was in when I last walked into Deaton's clinic a little over two hours ago. The main difference being that at least he doesn't have an antler sticking out of him.

Deaton makes an incision in Liam's chest and a yellow puff of air comes out from the wound. I move over to him instantly and grab his hand. He is still unconscious but the fact that he is alive is more than enough for me. Scott and Argent leave to talk and Deaton goes back into his office. Once again, it's just me and an injured Liam. The good thing is that this time we don't have a wendigo coming around the corner.

From my place on the stool I can tell Liam's hair is still somewhat wet from the water. Scott found him in a well after all. His breathing is calm and his eyelashes seem to stick together. My hand is still on his, only now I find myself tracing small patterns on the skin of his palm. There's the remnants of a cut in the middle of it and most of my attention is set on tracing its outline. I'm immersed in this when Liam makes a low humming sound from his spot on the table. I look up to find him smiling down at me.

"Hey, welcome back to earth, Dunbar." I say with a smile and he returns it gingerly. I keep smiling as I continue to trace circles into his palm.

"What happened?" Liam's voice is groggy and he sounds so tired I'm amazed he's still awake right now.

"Um… well I'm not exactly sure. I just know that Garrett took you and put you in some well in the middle of nowhere after pumping you full of wolf's bane. But that doesn't matter. You're okay and you're here so none of that matters."

Liam smiles from his place on the metal work bench and intertwines his fingers with mine before drifting back to sleep.

* * *

There's the faint awareness of a cold metal surface beneath me, followed by the warmth of another person's touch on my arm. I wake up from my daze and lift my head, rubbing my eyes and running my fingers through my bed head along the way. Once I've composed myself, memories come flooding back, and I remember where I am and who's touch it likely was that woke me. I need no other confirmation than Liam Dunbar's eyes as they hold my gaze. I smile, more so to myself than him, but either way he returns the gesture and for a moment or two we stay like this. Gazes locked on one another, and smiles widening at the exchange.

"You almost died, Liam," my voice is groggy from having just woken up. So much so that I almost don't recognize it when I speak up. That's when I break eye contact. Instead of looking up at him I settle for lowering my gaze to where my hands lay on my lap. Tucking a lock of stray hairs behind my ear, I let out a small chuckle. "I'm sorry. I can't believe I just said that." I fix my stare on my palms now as I notice how much I'm shaking. This hasn't happened since…

"Allison…" the name slips through the cold air and I feel my heart stop, I'm too caught up in my reaction to realize that my voice wasn't the one that finished the thought. As if on queue, everything around me starts to fade, until his voice brings me back.

"Who's Allison? You kept saying her name in your sleep." his tone reflects his confusion and at the sound of her name I twist my neck up to look at Liam again. His eyes bore holes into mine and I can feel a wave of unwanted emotions start to rush over me. Letting out a deep breath, I just barely manage to will them away. Now is not the time to have another breakdown.

Instead I release the tension that has built up in my body over the last few seconds. I plaster a smile on my face once again before standing and maneuvering Scott's hoodie off of me. Without a word, I hand it to Liam.

For a second he sits on the table, confused with my actions until I gesture to his uncovered torso. Then there's an intense blood rush to his face as he quickly grabs the hoodie from my hand and hurries to put it on. He mumbles what sounds like a thank you somewhere between zipping it up and getting his limbs through the sleeves.

I'm halfway out of the room when I feel his hand wrap around my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks.

"Dani, are you okay?" the way he speaks to me now is different. It's the same way everyone spoke to me for the first few months after Allison died. As if I might break if they didn't choose their words carefully.

Clearing my throat, I place my hand over his and turn to look at him. I hold onto his hand and place it in the empty space between us before finally answering. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

He doesn't seem too convinced, but even so he doesn't push it. All he does is offer me a soft smile before releasing his hand from my grasp. My brow creases at the loss of contact, but I brush it off as fast as it comes.

"Where's my brother?"

"He's outside talking to the vet and that guy with the guns,"

I only nod, keeping my eyes glued to the floor. A strange silence fills the clinic. The only sounds I can make out are the faint conversations at the front of the building. In an attempt to find something to occupy myself with, I try to tune in to whatever the exchange might be about.

For some reason it's like I can't figure out a way to talk to Liam. Which is probably why I'm trying so hard to just avoiding it all together. He seems to sense my apprehension, because he makes no other attempt at starting a conversation. For this, I am thankful, but the quiet ticking of the clock and the silence of the room soon become unbearable. I find myself forcing words out of my mouth, if only to keep my thoughts from spinning.

"It's late. We should go. Stay with us tonight if you'd like. Dad's never there and I'm pretty sure my mom has the late shift tonight. In any case she's pretty much used to our guests by now so you'll be okay either way." I lift my head enough to catch his reaction. A small smile has creeped onto his cheeks and he's nodding his head slowly as he makes his way to the door. I follow soon after, pausing to offer Deaton a thank you before heading out with everyone else.

* * *

"…visual confirmation is always required for payment."

Stiles reaches for the boom box and presses the stop button. For a moment the three us stay as we are with Scott and Stiles on the floor besides Scott's bed and me leaning against the door frame. We steal quick glances from one another to the duffel on the carpeted floor beneath us. Stiles is the first to speak.

"You ever made a wire transfer?"

"I've never had enough money," Scott's voice rings from beside him.

"Okay, so not a single one of us understood a word of that?" I let out a puff of air and lean my head against the door in frustration. Scott gives me what looks like a reassuring look before he speaks.

"I don't understand any of this. Why would someone use all this money just to kill us?" Scott says, gesturing down at the money in confusion.

"Someone really wants you dead, dude"

I instinctively roll my eyes at Stiles' unnecessary comment before looking toward Scott. The one who hasn't moved since we stopped the recording . Something seems to snap him out of it. Just as I move to sit next to him he jumps and starts shoving the stacks of cash back into the Garret's duffel. Stiles starts to protest but gets cut shut down by Scott all too soon.

"It's late. We got the PSATs in the morning." Scott doesn't look up, he only continues to frantically place the bills back in the bag.

"Scott I think he was talking about the money. There's five hundred thousand dollars in th-"

"It's half a million dollars, dude. What are you going to do? Slide it under your mattress?" For once I'm not annoyed by one of Stiles' rude interruptions. Only because I understand why he's so worried.

Scott moves to answer him, but some sporadic knocks from the front door stop him. Groaning inwardly I place a hand up in the air, motioning them to stop.

"I'll get it. You two figure _this_ out."

They nod silently as I open the door and step out onto the hallway. I make sure to close the door behind me before leaving.

The knocking hasn't stopped; if anything it's gotten louder and more frantic. By the time I get downstairs it's almost louder than the storm outside. When I open the door I am more than surprised to see a soaking wet Malia at my doorstep. I move to let her in and she rushes right by me and up the stairs without a word.

I don't question it, though. Especially because a few minutes later she runs past me with Scott and Stiles at her heels.

"Stay here, Dani. I'll be back soon." Scott hurriedly says as he runs past me, closing the door and leaving me to take care of our sleeping guest.

I look over to find that Liam is still laying on one of our couches, sleeping. He hasn't moved from this spot since we got home a little over three hours ago, and none of us dared to wake him. He's already had more than enough to deal with tonight. Even Stiles gave him a sympathetic look as he passed by and that's saying something.

I shake my head and smile at the thought. I move over to place a blanket over him before settling down in the seat next to his. Soon enough I feel my eyelids begin their slow decent over my eyes and I drift off to sleep with little protest.

 **woo okay!**

 **Isn't this chapter long as hell. Hopefully not too boring for you guys, but I feel a lot happened here. This used to be like three moderately sized chapters and I decided to make it one huge one. Hopefully not too bad, but I hope you enjoy anyway**

 **-V**


	5. news

Hey guys,

Long time no anything from my end. Sorry I've been kind of AWOL since my last update - which was in march by the way, **of last year** \- but I'm back now and getting back into the feel of the story. I am, however, mostly just editing what i already have for now. There will be an update sometime soon if all goes as planned, but there will be some changes to the story. Nothing too major. Don't freak out just yet; I've just had some ideas i want to incorporate into the mix. The story stays the same, but I'm not to happy with how fast things are happening for Dani right now so there will be some changes to events in past chapters so it doesn't feel like thing are being rushed into. I'll probably edit all the chapters offline and then upload them all at once before I finish the new chapter. it should give you guys time to maybe reread the new old stuff so you aren't still holding on to things that don't add up with whatever happens in the new chapters. And as always thank you guys for the support and the messages they mean a lot and help me along with continuing the story. See you soon!

-V


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